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/ 




EACH FOE HIMSELF. 



1/ 



EACH FOE HIMSELF; 

OE, 



BY 



F. - GERSTAECKER, 

AUTHOR OF ^"'THE FEATHERED ARROW," ETC. 



LONDON: 

liOUTLEDaE, WAENES, & llOUTLEDGE, 
FAREINGDON STREET; 
NEAV YORK: 56, WALKER STREET. 
1859. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEH I. 

CALiroENiA Eo! Tage 1 

CHAPTER II. 

GOLDEN GATE 20 

CHAPTEH III. 

fM CALIFOKNIAN SOIL 28 

CHAPTER lY. 

THE PLAZA OF SAN FKANCISCO 44* 

CHAPTER Y. 

AN EVENING IN SAN EEANCISCO 54f 

CHAPTER YI. 

THE EIEST CONFLAGRATION 73 

CHAPTER YII. 

APTEH THE EIKE 86 

CHAPTER YIII. 

A BIEL'S-EYE VIEW 109 

CHAPTER IX. 

A PARADISE o 119 



► Ti CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE INDIAN CHIEE .....Fcige 130" 

CHAPTER XL 

A NIGHT IN PARADISE 146 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE ALCALDE 168 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE RED EARTH 180 

CHAPTER XIY. 

THE GER3IAN COMPANY 192 

CHAPTER XY. 

TH:E two GAMBLERS 205 

CHAPTER XYI. 
THE counsellor's discoyery 218 

CHAPTER XYII. 
hetson and siptly 230 

CHAPTER XYIIL 

THE CHINAMEN 244 

CHAPTER XIX. 
don alonzo 256 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE MEETING 269 



COi^TENTS. Vii 

CHAPTEE XXI. 
THE MEXICAN PL AG Tag 6 385 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE ATTACK 301 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

MR. SMITH 312 

CHAPTER XXIY. 

OLD EHIENDS 325 

CHAPTER XXY. 

THE PEISONEB. 341 

CHAPTER XXYL 

THE MEETING 353 

CHAPTER XXYIE 

THE EVENING IN THE CAT,I? 365 

CHAPTER XXYIII. 

THE JUHY 383 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

LEAVE -TAKING 399 

CHAPTER XXX. 

CONCLUSION 410 




^'1 
1 



EACH FOE HIMSELF. 



CHAP TEE 1. 

CALirosNiA ho! 

" Land 1 land ! " Over the blue sea, lieaving in gentle waves, 
the glacl cry rang out from the mast-head — " Land ! " and " Land ! 
iand ! " rolled in joyous echoes through cabins and between decks, 
' resounding from end to end of the ship. 

The day had not yet fully broken ; but the first faint streak that 
lit up the eastern horizon had unveiled to the practised eye of the 
mate in the top the distant outlines of a rocky shore. Even before 
daybreak he had several times fancied he heard the hoarse sound 
of breakers, borne down at intervals by the breeze ; therefore he 
had mounted into the foretop, and the morning dawn showed 
that he had judged rightly. 

The good news, as it spread, caused universal joy ; and the old 
seaman too was glad, though from a difPerent cause than the 
prospect which produced such glee among the passengers below. 

"Thank Heaven !" he muttered, as he came slowly down the 
shrouds to the deck, "we shall at last get rid of those confounded 
land-lubbers of passengers. How the fellows are grunting at the 
thoughts of tramping through mud again. Eut I know one thing 
— this is the last trip I ever make in a passenger-ship. I'd rather 
' try out ' blubber aboard an old whaler, than be plagued with 
such a set of raffs again. Halloo ! there they come. Did ever 
any one see such a set of blind moles 

And grinning maliciously, he stopped half-way in his descent, 
and looked down upon the deck at the steerage passengers, who 
y^eve tumbling in troops up the fore-hatchway. 

It was enough to make a sailor laugh to see the sleepy faces, 
not half roused from their rest, looking around and upward with 
a bewildered stare, as if they expected to behold a mountain 
within a cable's length of the ship. Yery few knew in whati 



2 



CALIEOENIA ho! 



direction to look for the long-yrislied-for coast ; and it v/as not i 
till tlie sun rose fully out of tiie sea that the dark streak of land |y 
became sharply and undeniably visible. f 

Unfortunately, the wind was not particularly fair for the shore, '' 
and the good brig Leontine had to keep a slanting course along | 
the land, tacking at intervals to get nearer in. Towards noon j 
there was a change for the better, and the bow of the Leontine \ 
was turned more towards the land : still the breeze was very \ 
light and shifting, and the brig made little way, though every : \ 
available sail was turned to account. \ 

No one could blame the passengers for being glad at the : 
prospect of release from their confined existence on board. The ' 
^Leontine, of and from the port of Hamburg, had made a passage . 
of nearly six months, with only a short stay of a week at E.io de ' 
Janeiro and Valparaiso to break the long monotony of the voyage ; ' 
and what chances were the emigrants not losing while they were 
detained in the ship ! 

The first emigrants to California, to whom only the newest and 
most fabulous accounts of discovered wealth had penetrated, had 
their heads full of golden hopes and dreams. " In the mines," 
said report, " each miner found an ounce of gold a day;'' and 
reckoning this ounce at only twenty Prussian dollars (about 
three pounds in English money), they could make a very accurate 
calculation of the sums they lost through every week of useless 
delay. 

At last the coast they had so long beheld in dreams was really 
visible to their naked sight, and the people bustled and crowded 
noisily to make their preparations for landing with what speed 
they might. It would be too bad, they thought, to waste anj 
time through their own fault. 

Cabin and steerage had till then kept pretty strictly apart from 
each other. The captain at least would never, so long as the 
voyage lasted, allow a " 'tween-decks passenger to set foot on 
the quarter-deck, though he could not forbid his cabin passengers 
from consorting now and then with their less favoured fellow- 
travellers. Eut the cabin passengers, on their part, had availed 
themselves very sparingly of the tacit permission to go forward, 
till the approach to land seemed at once to do away with all forms 
and restrictions. The people on board seemed to have ai| idea 
that they would soon be " all tarred with the same brush;" and 
every one pressed forward to the raised forecastle and bows, to . 
get as clear a sight as he could of the coast. 

As in almost every passenger-ship under similar circumstances,, 
the people laboured under the delusion that they would disembark f 



CALIEOE^'IA ho! 



3 



almost immediately after sighting land; — and;, amid the suppressed 
grins of the sailors, many of them hastened to don their "long- 
shore clothes," only to doft them again as the evening came on. 
Thus there stood on the forecastle of the Leontine an assemblage 
of persons attired in most motley fashion ; some of them in their 
shirt-sleeves, or the thin jackets in which they used to roam about 
the decks ; others in broadcloth walking-coats, or even in dress- 
coats, with all the supplementary glories of smart walking-sticks 
and black high- crowned hats. 

Conspicuous among them appeared the figure of a passenger 
who had till then been scarcely ever noticed on board. He wore 
a long pea-green coat of uncommonly shabby appearance and with 
an indefinite number of capes of various breadths. Erom the end 
of the left sleeve of this cloak protruded a fat cotton umbrella of 
a bright-green hue. 

The garment itself reached nearly to the wearer's ancles ; at its 
lower extremity appeared a pair of thick boots heavily garnished 
with nails ; the whole structure being roofed with a narrow- 
brimmed hat, much crushed and battered. Whether the latter 
article of apparel inclosed a human head or not, remained an open 
question ; there were, however, no external indications of suck 
a presence. 

Next to him stood a young, well-dressed man, with hair elabo- 
rately brushed and oiled, and well-polished boots. He was gazing 
with greater interest upon his queerly-clad neighbour than even 
upon the land itself. It appeared strange to him that he should 
have been half a year in a crowded ship, and that a personage 
should suddenly start up whom he did not remember ever to have 
seen before. 

Mr. Hufner, the well-dressed young man, was, however, of too 
retiring a disposition to address the stranger, till a Hamburgher 
— a merchant, it was rumoured, who was retiring from a failure 
at home to commence more prosperous transactions abroad — came 
up, and unceremoniously pushing back the pea-green cloak-collar, 
cried out to the wearer, — 

Why, Ballenstedt — deuce take it — why, what a figure you 
look ! " 

" And how do I look a figure, Mr. Lamberg ? " replied the 
man, with great composure, while the passengers round them 
burst into a loud laugh; — "a man may put on his cloak, I 
suppose?" 

" Certainly, my boy, a man may," laughed the Hamburgher, 
who had not yet divested himself of any of his sea- going clothes; 
" but unless you happen to feel particularly cold just now, you 

B 2 



CALIFOENIA HO ! 



might have left that wonderful garment, with all its tremendous 
capes, to take care of itself for to-day. Or do you want to land 

directly 

" Directly the ship is moored/' answered the man, in a decided 
tone. 

" And where's the rest of your luggage 

" Here," answered Ballenstedt, and produced from under his 
cloak a red cotton handkerchief, tied in the form of a bundle, and 
a spade ; which latter implement, however, he angrily returned to 
its concealment, as the bystanders burst into a fresh shout. 

Eut every man had too much work of his own to do, to pay 
much attention to the eccentric passenger ; and the sailors, who 
now sprang on the forecastle to clear the anchors, broke off the 
conversation. The forecastle was cleared of the passengers, who 
dispersed in groups over the deck, looking over the bulwarks with 
longing glances at the land, which still lay in dim distance. 

One of the chief objects of attention among the passengers 
was an elderly gentleman, fully equipped for going ashore, but 
still retaining in his mouth a" long pipe. He strode thought- 
fully to and fro, humming a kind of tune, with his right hand 
held behind him. 

"Well, Counsellor, are you ready too ?" asked a little man in 
a grey coat, who, seated near the foremast, had been watching 
him for some time, with a smile. He was an apothecary from 
Hanover ; something of a wag, but withal a very good, respect- 
able fellow. 

I ?— yes," answered the Counsellor, turning sharply round 
to face hi's questioner. " Tired of the confounded life al3oard — 
shall make haste ashore-— shan't forget it in a hurry— deuce 
take it!" 

The man's speech was very rapid, but his thoughts seemed to 
come faster still ; for he swallowed half his words, and tumbled 
out the rest in such a hasty, abrupt manner, that he always 
seemed to be covering his interlocutors with abuse. But Ohlers, 
the apothecary, knew him well, and was, moreover, not a man to 
be easily frightened. 

"Mr. Counsellor does not appear particularly satisfied with the 
treatment on board," he observed with a quiet smile. 

"Dog's life!" was the one word of uncomplimentary expla- 
nation, in which the Counsellor concentrated his whole present 
existence — " captain shall pay for it— action at law." 

"Well, I give you joy," said Ohlers ; "poor captain !" 

" What, Counsellor, booted and spurred, eh ?" drawled a lanky 
youth, a cabin passenger, who, it was rumoured, had been sent 



CALIFOSNIA ho! 



5 



to California by his parents, wlio hoped to get a little peace for 
themselves by getting rid of him from Hamburgh. 1'he lanky 
man came sauntering up, with his hands in his pockets, and 
stood leaning his back against a hencoop, as if unwilling to in- 
trust to his legs the weight of his thin body. 

" Yes, Mr. Binderhof,'' grumbled the Counsellor, blowing 
away a thick cloud of tobacco, as he looked over his shoulder at 
the cabin passenger. " If you like it better — can stay." 

" Much obliged, Mr. Counsellor," answered the long man, 
laughing ; " but I'd rather not, unless I had the honour of your 
company." 

"Unbearable fellow, that," grumbled the Counsellor to him- 
self ; and he retired to the other side of the deck, and began to 
puff harder than ever. 

" Cracked old chap," said the long man, laughing. " What 
was he telling you just now, Ohlers ?" 

" Oh," answered the apothecary, " only something about you, 
Mr. Binderhof." 

"About me?" 

"About you, Mr. Binderhof. He was telling me how heart- 
broken your parents were when you insisted on starting off for 
California." 

" The blockhead," growled Binderhof ; and he left the hen- 
coop, and lounged angrily back to the cabin. Ohlers was looking 
after him with one of his dry comical glances, when Hufner 
strode by him. The opportunity was too tempting to be neg- 
lected ; so he at once accosted the new-comer. 

"Mr. Hufner, Mr. Hufner," he began, with a gesture of 
warning, " you seem to me in a bad way." 

" Indeed, my dear Mr. Ohlers," answered the other, anxiously, 
"I really can't see how ! Has anything happened ? " 

" Not yet," answered Ohlers, gravely ; " but you have dressed 
yourself up, as if you were going out to make conquests in San 
Erancisco, and your betrothed meanwhile sits at home, fretting 
and pining away bodily." 

" No, really ! " cried Hufner, earnestly, and he blushed fiery 
red ; "you do me wrong there, my good Mr. Ohlers." 

"Sly rogue, sly rogue," continued the tormentor; "I should 
very much like to send your young lady a few lines by the next 
post, just to warn the poor innocent thing." 

"Eor Heaven's sake don't play any such foolish trick,'^ cried 
Hufner, in alarm; "you've no idea hjw jealous she is, and she 
might take your fun for eamest. Well, thanks be, our time of 
separation is more than half over." 



6 



CAxiroENiA ho! 



"What !" exclaimed Ohlers, in astonishment, "are you going 

back again at once ?" 

"Not exactly/' answered Mr. Hufner, complacently; "but 
the fact is, we have agreed that she should follow me in three 
months, reckoning from the time of my departure. So, by this 
time, I dare say, she is in Rio de Janeiro." 

" But what, in the name of wonder, are you to do with your 
intended, in California ?" asked Ohlers, with a doubtful shake of 
the head. " You don't even know what is in store for yourself. 
Has she money 

" My girl ? '' said Hufner ; " why, no ; but there's no need of 
that.'' 

" Then have you any ? " 

" Not yet," answered the novice, with his quiet complacent 
glance ; " but vender is California." 

" Pooh ! "■ said Ohlers ; " and is that all ?'' 

"And is it not enough ?" asked Hufner, in return. "I have 
a clear three months before me, to make my fortune. I mustn't, 
certainly, take a situation as a clerk ; for even if I were to get 
three or four thousand dollars a year salary, that would only 
make one thousand, at the most, for the three months, and there 
is not much to be done with that. But I shall go to the mines ; 
there I am sure of an ounce a day ; and, reckoning only twenty- 
seven working days to the month, three months will give me a 
little capital of at least one thousand six hundred and twenty 
dollars, without counting anything extra for the lucky days, 
which are sure to turn up now and then. I know for a certainty 
that there have been days when gold-washers have had five or six 
hundred dollars." 

" And on the strength of this prospect alone you have desired 
the girl to follow you ?" 

" This prospect alone repeated Hufner, in amazement. " I 
fancy it is certainly enough. Just ask Mrs. Siebert, or get her 
to show you the letters her husband has written her from San 
Erancisco. In three days he and another man dug out of some 
old ravine or other shining gold to the amount of four thousand 
dollars. In three days, I tell you." 

" Then they certainly had brilliant success," answered Ohlers ; 
" but how many do you suppose may not be scraping and shovelling 
about in the mountains yonder without findiug more than barely 
what they want for their daily subsistence; and what kind of 
prices do you think they ask for provisions up yonder ? Where 
a sixpenny loaf costs five Spanish dollars, my good Mr. Hufner, 
people can't afiord to be good-natured." 



CALiroENiA ho! 



7 



"Then pray why did you come to California?" asked the 
smiling Hufner, with a look at Ohlers which seemed to saj;, "I 
have caught you now." 

Certainly not to puddle for gold among the old foggy moun- 
tains/*' answered the apothecary. " There will be sick people 
enough in San Erancisco, — loose customers, who have been 
knocldng about in the mines till they can hardly drag their 
limbs along. They will fall into my hands in due course ; and 
that I shall squeeze them till there is not another grain of gold 
to be got out of them, you may be well assured." 

Their conversation was here cut short, or rather interrupted, by 
the arrival of two other persons, who had come up the gangv/ay, 
and stood at the larboard bulwarks looking over at the land. 
One of these new-comers was the Mrs. Siebert of whom Hufner 
had just spoken; the other was old Assessor Mohler, the most 
obliging, modest, and eccentric man under the sun. 

The husband of Mrs. Siebert, who had been, at least in former 
days, rather a queer character, had gone to America to seek his 
fortune, leaving his wife and children behind him in Germany. 
Eor years they had heard nothing of him, until, almost simul- 
taneously with the news of the first discovery of gold in California, 
there came a letter from him, containing the most wonderful and 
startling intelligence. Siebert had, it appeared, enrolled himself, 
with many other Germans, among the troop of volunteers whom 
the United States sent to California to take possession of the 
country. These men — most of them adventurers who could earn 
their living in no other way — at first held out capitally, and kept 
together where rations were distributed ; but no sooner had the 
intelligence of the new gold-discoveries reached them, than they 
deserted, almost to a man, and wandered away into the moun- 
tains to dig for the precious metal. As chance would have it, 
these people fell at once upon the richest spots ; and som^e of 
them certainly, in the space of a few days, extracted gold from 
the mountain ravines to the value of thousands of dollars. 
Among these fortunate adventurers was Siebert, who, a good- 
natured if a thoughtless man, at once m'ote home to call his 
family around him. The description of the wealth of California, 
as set forth in his letter, fiew through the neighbourhood with 
lightning speed, and induced many a man to leave his home, in 
the hope of gathering treasure as easily as the writer had done. 

No one was more joyous than Mrs. Siebert, who strolled from 
one acquaintance to another to show her husband's glorious 
letter. It may be imagined how she was complimented and 
envied ; but she lost no time in preparing herself and her children 



s 



for tfieir voyage. Her husband iiad sent an order on a Ham- 
burgh house for the passage-money; and the first ship that 
sailed thence for California took on board the v/ife, who, with 
>er children, obeyed the call of her husband to join him in the 
distant land of fortune. 

''•^oor as Mrs. Siebert's circumstances had formerly been, she 
was yet the object of a peculiar kind of respect to all on board. 
They felt she was not going out on an errand of chance ; for was 
not her husband one among those favourites of fortune whose ' 
happy lot had made them the first explorers of that wondrous 
land of treasure? They had, as it were, skimmed the cream 
from the rich goblet ; and the wife was going out to enjoy the ^ 
fruits of that easy toil. Her husband could not fail to know the 
richest spots in the mountains, and might give valuable hints — 
if he only \Tould. Thus it came that every passenger treated the 
lady most respectfully, and did everything to oblige her — in a 
vague expectation that she might say a favourable word for 
him. 

This respectful behaviour on the part of all on board hai 
spoiled the good lady; moreover, her husband^s letter gave her 
cau.se to consider herself, so far as her notions of riches went,, 
a wealthy woman; and the novel feeling of being able tO' ■ 
patronize those about her, finished what her ideas of wealth had • 
l3egun. 

Modest as she had been when she first went on board, she 
soon became sufficiently assuming ; and her imagination helped 
her to paint life in California in the most glowing and lively 
colours. 

Exactly the opposite in character to this good lady was 
Assessor Mohler, a man past the prime of life, — in fact, about 
fifty years of age. He never said a word about his family affairs^ 
but a few of the passengers seemed to have known him before ; 
and from them the rest soon learned that he had lived in Ger- 
many, if not in brilliant, at any rate in independent, circumstances, 
and had, in fact, only been sent to California by his married 
daughters, little Gonerils and Regans, like a shame-faced old 
King Lear as he was. It was the old story. Whereas he had 
done everything in his power, more perhaps than was prudent, 
for his children, they, on the other hand, soon grew tired of his 
little harmless peculiarities. He had, moreover, always shown a 
disposition to travel; and they managed cleverly half to persuade, 
half to compel him to go forth in his age to try his fortune in the 
strange and fabulous land of gold. 

They spoke, and the Assessor went. But though he never 



CALIPOEJ^IA ho! 



9 



Tittered a word of complaint, \^ felt how unworthily he had been 
treated, and that his own children had considered him as a 
burden to be got rid of ; and this reflection gave to his whole 
bearing an appearance of depression and pain. His inborn good- 
nature prevented him from making any one but himself suffer 
from his misfortunes. Notwithstanding a certain amount of 
secret and avowed teasing to which he w^as subjected, he was 
the personification of good temper in his intercourse with all 
the passengers— wherever he could, he lent a helping hand. No 
knife was sharpened on board the ship but he turned the stone, — 
not a button was sewn on but he had furnished needle and 
thread for the operation, from a convenient store of such articles 
he had brought with him.. His cooking utensils went from hand 
to hand \ and frequently as they were returned to him in a bent 
injured state, and often as he resolved to lend them out no 
more, such resolution lasted only till the next application made 
for them by a fellow-passeno'sr — for to refuse a request was for 
the Assessor a thing impossible. 

In Germany he had been in the habit of cultivating the friend- 
ship of little children. The only specimens of the infantile 
world on board belonged to Mrs. Siebert ; and the little things 
soon found out in what estimation the old gentleman held thern. 
Y/herever he went they followed him ; and he was never weary 
of attending to them, or even of keeping them tid}^, and nursing 
them, as occasion required. Moreover, he manufactured for their 
behoof a number of playthings, painted pictures for them, ai^d 
cut out figures and houses for them with paper; in a word, 
he became the friend and factotum of the three youngsters 
on board. 

Their mother had at first received his friendly offices with 
warm and sincere thanks, and even insisted on being allowed at 
least to attend to the Assessor's washing, as some return for all 
his kindness. Eut from the time they left E.io, she found that 
her friend did little more for her than the rest of the passengers, 
though he served her in another and a more useful way. All 
the other people on board washed their oto clothes, and why 
could not the Assessor do the same thing ? — So when he at length 
brought out a bucket, put his shirts in to soak, and then turned 
up his sleeves to the unaccustomed work, she managed to busy 
herself in another part of the deck, and did not interfere. 

Prom that time the Assessor certainly became his own washer- 
woman ; but he continued, as before, the friend and protector 
of the children, with only this difference, that Mrs. Siebert never 
thought of thanking him for his exertions. She had, nevertheless. 



10 



CALIICEXIA ho! 



resolved, that when they arrived in California, her hnsband 
should "tell him of a good place/' — this she voluntarily pro- 
mised the Assessor, to the great satisfaction of that simple, 
straightforward man. California now no longer appeared to bim 
a strange desert place, for he was to find a friend there, Vvho 
would assist him with his counsel and experience. 

Such were the feelings with which he stood with Mrs. Siebert's 
youngest child in his arms, gazing at the land as it rose from 
the waters, and pointing out to the little boy the mountains 

behind which his father lived." 

"That woman is well provided for," said Mr. Hufner, in a half- 
whisper to the apothecarVj — "the man has had marvellously 
good luck." 

" Who ? — the Assessor ?" 

"Hist ! — don't talk so loud — ^no, I mean that Siebert. He and 
his companions have absolutely shovelled I don't know how 
many thousand dollars out of the ground. But there are more 
such places yet, and that is a capital proverb the sailors have — 
' There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it.' " 

" Yes," said Ohlers, " and there are other good proverbs, — 
such as " Don't meddle in what's not your trade," and " Cobbler, 
stick to your last." 

" How do you mean ?" asked Hufner with a bewildered 
look. 

" I simply mean to say," answered Ohlers drily, " that those 
who imagine it a very pleasant thing to carry a spade instead of 
a walkiug-stick, and a pick instead of an umbrella, will find that 
they have chosen a confoundedly laborious sort of amusement. 
Well, tastes vary, as the saying is. But, if I am not mistaken, 
here comes our mad American creeping along : I should like to 
know what he expects to find in California, and what he intends 
doing there with his wife." 

The passenger of whom he spoke, was a young, pale-faced, 
slender man, an American by birth, whose shy, self-contained 
bearing had earned him among his fellow-travellers the name of 
"the Madman." Passengers on board ship are very fond of 
giving each other nicknames of this kind. 

He had come on board at Valparaiso with a young and very 
amiable woman — he had taken the berths of a couple of cabin 
passengers who left the ship at that port — and he would sit for 
hours on the quarter-deck without addressing a word to any one. 
He would look out fixedly to sea, in the direction in which he 
knew California to lie, and the steerage passengers gave it as 
their opinion that he was looking for a convenient place in the 



CALLFOENIA HO ! 



m 



mter, into which lie would jump on the first favourable op- 
portunity. 

During the first days after his arrival on board, he had been 
continually walking to and fro along the decks, scrutinizing the 
faces of the passengers as they passed him, or went to and fro 
on their various errands ; he would observe them attentively, but 
never addressed one of them ; he seemed to be always in search 
of some one. On the very day he came on board, he had called 
for the passenger-list, and perused it attentively. Whether he 
hoped or feared to find some acquaintance, no one could tell ; and 
it was not unnatural that the passengers, in the absence of all 
other occupation, founded the most impossible conjectures upon 
the man's remarkable behaviour ; but as he kept himself quietly 
and modestly retired, they at length became weary of noticing 
him, and finished him off with the above-mentioned flattering 
nickname. 

His wife, a young amiable creature of eighteen or nineteen 
years, when she appeared on deck, never stirred from his side. 
Towards her he always appeared kind and attentive, and in her 
society he could even be cheerful ; but when she left him alone, 
the dark melancholy mood came over him again. On this day 
even her presence seemed to have lost its usual salutary influence 
upon him. When the land came in sight, a strange wild disquiet 
seemed to have taken possession of his mind, — and over and over 
again he paced the deck, from the taffrail to the bowsprit, look- 
ing towards the land as if he could thus quicken their progress 
towards it, and then turning to resume his station on the quarter- 
deck. 

There was another cabin passenger, an old gentleman, a phy- 
sician, who went by the name of the Doctor, and occupied the 
next berth. This old traveller was the only one with whom he 
would sometimes converse, complaining of pains in the head and 
oppression on the chest, and asking for such mild remedies as the 
physician's experience considered suitable. These prescriptions 
he would obediently follow, mthout, however, deriving any benefit 
from them; and Dr. Eascher soon observed that the patient's 
malady proceeded from some cause connected with, and affecting 
the mind. But hints on this head awakened no confidence in 
the sick man. The patient obstinately denied the existence of 
any such predisposing cause, and at length shrank nervously 
from the most distant allusion to the matter ; he seemed deter- 
mined not to open his heart to the strange Doctor, and the latter 
was of course unable either to compel his confidence or to better 
Ms condition. 



12 



CALIPOBNIA ho! 



The Ainerican, vrhose name was Hetson, had stood for a time 
looking anxiously over the ship's side, while the Doctor observed 
him, and shook his head in silence. At length the American 
rose, clenched his hand angrily as he turned towards the south, 
the direction whence they had sailed, murmured a few words, 
which neither Hufner nor the Apothecary understood, and then 
went abruptly back to the quarter-deck, without bestowing a 
single glance on the steerage passengers who surrounded 
him. 

" I wonder if they have madhouses in San Erancisco ? " ob- 
served Ohlers, looking after him, as he strode slowly aft : " it 
would not be a bad speculation to establish rather a large insti- 
tution of the kind there. Strictly speaking, half the men who 
who are running over there now are pretty far gone, — and that the 
majority will break out into open madness, I have no hesitation 
in saying. I must think the matter quietly over." 

Hetson, meanwhile, strode to and fro on the quarter-deck. 
His wife went up to him, and took his arm. This seemed to 
quiet him : at any rate, he soon quitted the deck, and disap- 
peared in his cabin. 

It was now near noon, and the captain and chief mate ap- 
peared on deck with their quadrants to take their observation. 
Unfortunately, just at twelve o'clock, the sun was hidden behind 
a tbick veil of clouds, and though the seamen strove hard to dis- 
tinguish at least a glimmer of its disc, their efforts were in vain. 

On the open sea that would have been a matter of little con- 
sequence. The ship holds its course, and a bright day makes all 
right again. But here, close to a strange shore, with whose land- 
marks not one of them was acquainted, a mid-day observation 
became absolutely necessary, in order accurately to determine the 
latitude. 

This the clouds prevented them from doing ; and yet, as the 
breeze became more favourable, they approached nearer and 
nearer to the coast. They kept on their course in the hope of 
falling in with some ship that should show them the way into the 
bay, in case they did not find the entrance for themselves ; at 
any rate, it was necessary to make the attempt. 

The bare projecting rocks of the mainland now came out in 
bolder relief, and a number of sails. could be distinctly seen, in 
close proximity to the shore. But, instead of obtaining from 
these a hint as to the course to be followed, the uncertainty was 
only increased ; for some were steering south, while others bore 
away to the north — others, again, even changed their course and 
fell ofp from the shore. It was evident that the captains were. 



CALirOENIA EO! 



13 



©ae and all, unacquainted with the way into the bay, and were 
reduced to the alternative of waiting for a ship to guide them in, 
or laying to till noon of the next day. 

The Leotiti7ie now likewise altered her course, so as not to 
come too near the rugged rocks of the shore, to the great 
bewilderment of the passengers, who did not know what to 
make of the proceeding. In the open sea, landsmen are obKged 
to submit unconditionally to the captain's guidance. They have 
no resting-place for the eye, and the sailors are responsible for 
carrying them to their destination ; but here the aspect of affairs 
was very different. They could see the land lying broad and 
clear before them, with all its promontories and creeks, its moun- 
tains and its valleys : it seemed to them quite unjustifiable on 
the captain's part, that he did not run in at once and cast anchor. 
It was cheating them out of so many hours of valuable time. 
Of the danger that menaced them, if a storm should overtake 
them in the neighbourhood of the strange, iron-bound coast, they 
had no notion. 

Mr. Hetson had come again on deck, and the appearance of 
the strange ships seemed to excite him greatly. He ran to the 
captain and questioned him as to the ships, and the ports from 
vdience they had come. As none of them, however, had showed 
a flag, it was impossible to determine these points ; and it was 
only from observing certain peculiarities of build and rigging 
about the strange ships, that the seaman could conjecture them 
to be Erench, English, or German. 

The sun was sinking towards the horizon, and yet the Leontine, 
instead of at once seeking a berth for anchorage, had braced 
round her sails, and held off as far as possible from the coast. 
Those among the passengers who had prepared for immediate 
landing, had nothing for it but to change their "longshore 
clothes " for their worn sea-garb, and there was general grum- 
bling on board. 

Not until the evening had quite closed in, did the young 
American betake himself to his cabin. By this time, in spite of 
the beauty of the weather, most of the passengers had bestowed 
themselves below, to pass away, with the aid of cards and a 
punchbowl, what they devoutly hoped would be their " last 
night on board." 

The Doctor only continued to pace the deck awhile, in codi- 
pany with the mate ; and when the latter was summoned forward, 
to superintend some mancEuvre with the sails or rigging, the 
Doctor, left alone on the after-deck, leaned thoughtfidly over the 
quarter-bulwark, lookiDg down at the rudder, where a luminous 



CALIPOENIA ho! 



streak in the liglitly-heaving sea sent forth thousands upon 
thousands of sparks shining in phosphorescent brightness. 

" Doctor," murmured a low anxious voice at his side. 

He raised his head hastily, for he had recognized the voice as 
that of Mrs. Hetson, the wife of the American. 

The young matron stood before him, closely wrapped in her 
shawl ; and he exclaimed in some surprise, — 

" Mrs. Hetson ! — What can have brought you alone on deck, 
at this hour, in the damp night air ? Where is Mr. Hetson ? 

"He is asleep. Doctor,'" replied the lady, speaking in an 
excited voice ; " and I have seized the moment to talk to you 
alone. I must speak to you while we have an opportunity of 
doing so without interruption ; and I doubt if I shall have an 
opportunity after we land. Eut I — I am doubtful if you have 
patience to give me a quarter of an hour." 

" My dear Mrs. Hetson," answered the old man, in a friendly 
tone, " even if I were not a physician — ^which makes it my duty 
to listen to you — you would wrong me by such a doubt. You 
want to speak to me about your husband ? " 

"Yes," whispered the young wife, with an anxious glance 
around, to see if any one could overhear them. But there was 
no one near, save the sailor at the helm, leaning on the spokes 
of his wheel, and he could not hear the conversation they carried 
on in a low tone, and in English. The mate, who had come aft 
again, stood on the steps leading to the middle deck, watching 
the course of the ship. 

" I thought so," said the Doctor, " and have long wished that 
either he or you would be frank with me, for I might then have 
given hopes of his recovery ; for his disorder seems to me to be a 
serious and a deeply-rooted one, and though we can judge of 
most illnesses by their external symptoms, it is difficult, in fact 
almost impossible, for a physician to fathom the depth of mental 
disease in a patient who refuses to co-operate with his Doctor ; 
and it is certainly some mental evil under which your husband 
is suffering — an evil, I fear, which may in time become fatal 
to him." 

"You are right," answered the lady in a low voice, "and 
often, but vainly, have I urged him to make a friend of you. He 
has even strictly forbidden me to talk with any one on the sub- 
ject; but I feel that I am acting for his own benefit in over- 
stepping his command, and I must do so on my own account, or 
I shall die — I shall indeed — of mere sorrow and anxiety." 

" Compose yourself, my dear madam, compose yourself," whis- 
pered the Doctor earnestly to his excited companion; and he 



CALirosKiA ho! 



15 



glanced at tlie sailor, who had turned and was eyeing them with 
some curiositj. "Those people nearly all nnderstand a little 
English, and we had best be withon.t such witnesses." 

" You are right," answered Mrs. Hetson, in a calmer voice. 
" Then listen to me, and do not be angry if I tax your attention 
for a time by speaking of myself. I shall not tire you by an 
unnecessary word." 

" Then come here to the side : words spoken out to sea die 
away, and no one on deck will hear what we have to discuss." 

The young wife leaned her arm on the broad bulwark of the 
Leontine, and began, in an earnest, quiet tone : — 

"I will spare you all that exclusively concerns myself; but it 
is necessary you should know that, about two years ago, I was 
engaged, in my own couutry, to a young Englishman, whom I 
loved with all my heart. He was a sailor, and was to make only 
one more voyage to India : on his return, we were to be married. 
A few days after he sailed, the terrible news reached us, that, 
almost directly it had left the Thames, his ship had been wrecked 
on the Goodwin Sands, and every soul on board had perished, 
excepting one sailor, who had been saved almost by a miracle, 
and landed on the English coast. Grief for the loss of my 
betrothed stretched me on a sick-bed ; and my father decided on 
accepting an appointment that was offered him at Euenos Ayres, 
because he thought a change of air and of scene would best con- 
duce to my recovery. We set out, and before we got there, I 
had quite regained my health. But our stay in the Argentine 
republic was short, and the political condition of that disturbed 
country compelled my father to keep out of the way of the 
dictator Hosas, who was at that time all-powerful, and who 
disliked him. Erom thence we embarked for Chili; and at 
Yalparaiso, I made the acquaintance of my present husband, Mr. 
Hetson. He had, in his own disinterested way, rendered my 
father some signal services. We found him such a highminded, 
noble -hearted man, that it was impossible to remain indifferent to 
him ; and I at last consented to become his wife. He was 
radiantly happy, and ready to fulfil every wish of my heart : and 
he has been the same ever since. I have never for a moment had 
cause to doubt his love for me, 

"Our wedding-day soon came. We were to be married in 
the American consul's house. Just as we stepped into the car- 
riages a packet of letters from Europe was placed in my father's 
hand ; he put it aside, naturally enough, until the ceremony was 
over." 

The speaker paused for a minute^ as if to gather strength to 



16 



CALIFORNIA HO ! 



revive the remembrance of what she had endured ; but, as the 
doctor said not a word to internipt her, she continued slowly, 
after a short pause,—- 

" When we returned home, where my parents had arranged a 
little feast for us, I found a letter awaiting me. The sight of the 
superscription sent a thrill through my veins. But I will not 
weary you with a description of what I felt and suffered, but 
simply state the facts as thev occurred. The letter was from 
Charles.^' 

"Eromwhom?" 

"From my former lover," whispered the lady. " He had been 
picked up by an American schooner after his own ship went 
down. Strong gales from the north-east prevented his rescuers 
from setting him ashore on that night or on the following days. 
They soon left the land behind, and Charles was compelled to 
make the voyage to Brazil, whither the schooner was bound. A 
burning fever kept him for months on a sick-bed ; he was carried 
on shore in a state of insensibility, and left in the hospital ; and 
when he had so far recovered as to be able to write to England, 
he received no answer to his letter ; for, in the mean time, we 
had left the country, and had actually lived for a whole week iu 
the town where he la}^. Bio de Janeiro, without being aware of 
his presence there, or even suspecting that he was still alive. As 
soon as he recovered, he travelled back to England, learned the 
place of our residence, and wrote off to Buenos Ayres. That 
letter missed us, for we had departed in the interim for Valparaiso ; 
and it was only after a long time, when chance made him acquainted 
with our whereabout, that he wrote again of his rescue from death 
and of his love, — adding that he should follow his letter vvithout 
delay." 

"And does Mr. Hetson hnow of this letter?" asked the 
physician. 

*'Yes; I was his wife. I felt that to have a secret — snch ^ 
secret — from him would be to risk the happiness of our whole 
future life, and I determined to be true to him. Union with 
Charles had become impossible. I belonged to my husband, and 
I hoped he would have confidence enough in me to believe my 
solemn vow and promise. 

"I could not su.mmon up courage that same evening to make 
the avowal, — but next morning I confessed everything to my 
husband, showed him the letter, and assured him that although 
I had formerly loved Charles, I was quite resolved to have no 
more communication with him even by letter; the next mail 
should carry my farewell letter to him, in which I would explain 



califoe:n"ia ho ! 



-what Lad happened, and beg him to bear what could not no-w 
be altered, like a man." 

" And how did your husband receive this information ?" asked 
the Doctor. 

"At first as calmly and with all the good sense that I conld 
hope for or expect/' answered Mrs. Hetson. " He thanked me 
heartily for the confidence I had shown towards him, sympathized 
with the unfortunate man who had lost me through such a serie;^ 
of accidents, and begged me to write to Charles as quickly as 
possible, and to state the circumstances fully. ' To tell him all/ 
said my husband, ^ would soonest reconcile him to his lot.' 

" Accordingly I sat down at once to write, and gave my letter 
to my husband. He quite approved of its style, and by the next 
post it was despatched to England. But from that day Mr. Hetson 
became subject to a strange restlessness. Pie would sit and read 
Charles's letter over and over again. Charles had certainly written 
there that he would not wait to receive my answer, but would 
set sail in the next ship to come to me. In vain I assured my 
husband that I would not see the poor man even if he came to 
Valparaiso, adding that I felt convinced he would quit the country 
as soon as he heard what had occurred. My arguments were all 
in vain. Day and night my husband continued restless. The 
thought that Charles would come and claim me — wdld and im- 
probable as the idea was — became more and more firmly fixed in 
his mind; and, in an outbreak of utter despair, he at length 
conjured me to fiy with him to some far land, for he could no 
longer endure the continual dread vv^hich was killing him by 
inches. 

"I consented. My father, to whom I had confessed all, 
pressed me to do as my husband wished ; and as your ship, bound 
for California, happened just then to be touching at Yalparaiso, 
Mr. Hetson determined not to let the opportunity slip. Our 
preparations were quickly made ; but I could never understand 
why my husband did everything with such secrecy. At last he 
confessed the reason, — he was afraid my former lover might 
follow us to California, and had determined to put him off our 
track. There was another ship in the harbour, bound for Sydney, 
in Australia ; and a letter was to be left at Valparaiso for Charles, 
saying that we had embarked for New South Wales. 

" It was in vain that I entreated my husband to keep to the 
truth, assuring him that Charles would never attempt to disturb 
his peace. The bare fact of my making such a request aroused 
all his suspicion and jeplousy. He began to think that I wished 
to leave soaie clue behind me by which my former lover could 

c 



IS 



CALirOEKIA ho! 



trace out our Tvhereabout ; and he watched my every action, and 
indeed my every look, so long as we remained ashore. He con- 
jured my parents, by all that was holy, not to divulge our trae 
destination, and went about in such a state of nervous excitement 
that I at last began to long for the moment to come when 
we should leave Chili ; for I hoped that his disquietude would 
then be removed, and his unhappy restlessness would leave 
him." 

"And your hopes have not been fulfilled?" observed the 
physician, in a tone of sympathy. 

" No," was the sorrowful reply : " on the contrary, he has 
become worse than ever since we came in sight of land. During 
the first few days of our voyage he laboured under the unhappy 
delusion that Charles had stolen on board with us. When he 
had convinced himself, by the evidence of his own eyes, that this 
was not the case, he becam.e calmer ; but now, with the land in 
view and the strange ships round us, the old dread seems to have 
come back upon him more strongly than ever. On board each 
ship sailing for San Erancisco ]Bay he fears to find the man he 
considers his rival. He already trembles at the idea of disem- 
barking in the strange land where Charles may have arrived 
before us, and I am quite in despair to see him in this state of 
almost madness ; therefore, dear Doctor, I felt compelled to open 
my heart to some one on the subject ; and there was no one to 
whom I would so readily confide my grief as to you, our kind 
friend." 

" Your confidence shall not have been bestowed in vain, dear 
lady," answered the old man, who was quite moved by her 
earnest simplicity ; " but how to assist you in the matter is what 
puzzles me. Your husband has become possessed of this unhappy 
idea, and external means would be quite unavailing." 

" If we could make him believe," sighed Mrs. Hetson, " that 
Charles has really gone to Australia " 

"Eor Heaven's sake do nothing of the kind!" interrupted the 
physician, anxiously ; "that would be giving him a certainty that 
your lover is really pursuing you, and there would be no more 
peace or rest for him. Moreover, I am told that ships are 
continually coming from Australia to San Erancisco ; and every 
new arrival would cause him fresh, and not unreasonable, 
disquietude." 

"But what shall I — what can I do?" asked the woman, in a 
despairing tone ; " and how is all this to end, if this delusion 
should increase upcn him ? Now already his health has almost 
given way through his continual restlessness." 



CALI]?OE.XIA HO ! 



"Above all things," said the old man, "continue to be per- 
fectly frank and open towards yonr husband. The slightest 
ii appearance of concealment, if he became aware of it, would be 
j sure to increase the evil. Do not give him the least cause 
for suspicion ; and if he hears no more of his fancied rival, time 
: will act as his best physician, and, I hope, effect a permanent 
cure." 

" But if it should be otherwise ! " exclaimed the poor wife, 
\ with clasped hands, — "if in this strange place the terrible 
1 dreams grow stronger and stronger !" 

|t " Trust in God 1 " said the Doctor, calmly and seriously ; " and 
\ remember, too, above all things, that by these dreary forebodings 
I you will needlessly weaken your own health. Take courage ; 
the new active life over yonder will have a good, healing in- 
fluence on your husband. Cooped up in this narrow ship, day 
after day, without employment, obliged to depend on those 
around him, — people, by the way, of w^hom a man may soon get 
f tired, — it is no wonder that these unlucky ideas have fastened 
upon him with redoubled strength ; but let him be once launched 
cn the tide of practical Californian life, surrounded by the rush, 
of men striving and pushing for gold and treasure, and he vriil 
— in fact, he must — soon forget all these dark, melancholy 
thoughts." 

" Let us hope so," sighed the wife, in heartfelt assent. " I 
i am sure I will do my utmost to strengthen and enliven hini. I 
only hope his mind is not affected." 

"I have no fear on that score," said the Doctor, cheerfully. 

Do not you give way to any such idea, and all will be well. 
Besides, now I know his ailment, — and if you should need my 
assistance in San Erancisco, you may be sure I will serve you 
truly and loyally." 

"God reward you!" cried warm-hearted Mrs. Hetson, grate- 
fully seizing the old man's hand ; and the Doctor offered his arm, 
and proceeded, with an air of friendly protection, to escort her 
to the cabin steps, where he left her, and returned tlioughtfully 
on deck. 



c 2 



20 



THE GOLDEX GATE. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE GOLDEN GATE. 

Sunny and clear the next morning broke over the sea ; and 
scarcely was the first dim twilight spread abroad on the grey 
water, when a crowd of passengers came thronging to the deck 
of the Leoutme. " There is the land — there's Calif oniim ! (for 
so the Germans persisted in calling the golden land) ran like 
"wildfire along the whole deck. 

During the first hours of the night the captain had held off 
from the land as much as possible; but after eight bells (mid- 
night) some of the light sails had been taken in, to check the 
TesseFs speed, and her bow had been turned once more towards 
the coast, so as to be " well in " by daybreak. The weather 
was so quiet, that there was no fear of being driven ashore ; and 
when morning dawned, the brig was about two miles off shore, 
running northward, with the breakers plainly in sight. 

Eight other ships were in sight ; some to the north, otliers 
further south, and one or two still far out at sea, making straight 
for the land. As to the whereabout of the bay, all the Qom- 
manders, to judge from the manoeuvres of their vessels, seemed 
as much in the dark as the captain of the Leo?itine himself. 

"Hallo !" the hail came from the first mate, who had mounted 
into the top, to get a better view of the shore — "hallo! what 
is that out yonder and he pointed to the steep w^all of 
rocks. 

" Where ? w^hat ? " asked the captain, who stood on the 
quarter-deck, pulling out his telescope to look in the direction 
the mate pointed out. "What do you see there ?" 

" A sail, as I'm alive, coming out from between the rocks," 
cried the sailor joyfully; "that must be the entrance into the 
bay. Do you see the fiat table-rock, captain, with the steep 
ledge just beside it ?" 

"'I have it," answered the captain; and the mate seized hold 
of the backstay, and slid down to the deck, in a twinkling. 
There was no need to look long. With the help of his good 
glass, the captain had made out the narrow entrance through 
which the white sail came cut ; a minute more, the yards wxre 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



21 



braced round, and the Leontine, with her bowsprit pointing full 
on shore, was making for tlie iong-wislied-for harbour. 

The other ships had been keeping a sharp look-out, too ; for 
directly the Leoniine changed her course, they altered theirs, 
rightly judging that the brig would not steer straight towards a 
rock-bound coast without good reason. Perhaps they, too, had 
noticed the little sail; at any rate, they conjectured where the- 
entrance to the bay must be, and they were not mistaken. The 
nearer they approached the coast, the more plainly did they see 
a narrow, canal-like passage between the rocks. Presently an 
American brig came working out ; and now they knew that the 
narrow inlet before them was really the "golden gate" of 
California. 

Great was the rejoicmg on board when the passengers saw 
themselves so near the end of their journey. Every one pressed 
forward to get a good view of their destination, or, at any rate, 
to have the pleasure of stariiig at the high, bare walls of rock 
flanking the entrance to the right and left. 

Among the passengers who pertinaciously blocked up the way, 
the sailors now came forward, invoking anything but blessings 
on the inconvenient land-lubbers, and clearing a passage, where 
words failed, by energetic pushes and thumps, till they at last 
obtained room for their most necessary employment. 

Suddenly, as if by magic, the rocky wall seemed to open ; the 
brig, favoured by wind and tide, flew through the narrow 
channel, and all around lay spread that magnificent sheet of 
water, called San Erancisco Bay, with the forest of masts be- 
longing to the ships already anchored there, protected by a 
projecting tongue of land on the right. 

Then there was " hurrying to and fro," general rejoicing on 
board, and rapid questions which no one had leisure to answer, 
as the stirring life of the bay unfolded itself more and more to 
the eyes of the travellers. Every one was anxious to see. to 
enjoy the sight to the exclusion of all else ; for with eaeh ship- 
length of advance, there appeared plainer and yet more plainly 
to each eager gaze the goal of the long tedious voyage — the 
metropolis of golden dreams — San Erancisco. 

At first they saw only a few scattered houses and tents on 
the neighbouring heights; but as they rounded the projecting^ 
tongue of land, the most wonderful city on the face of the earth 
lay before them, with hundreds of dismantled ships in the 
foreground, and in the background a circle of naked rocks. The 
sound of the cable rattling through the hawsehole — sweetest of 
music after so long a voyage — brought back the gazers' thoughts 



22 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



to the present, annomicing that the passive life to which they had 
peiforce given themselves up for nearly half a year, was now to 
be replaced by a more active, self-reliant existence. 

The anchor is down. The stern of the brig siwngs slowly 
round, till the bow points to the entrance of the bay — down 
come the yards, and the loosened sails flutter — while the sailors 
jump nimbly into the rigging, to secure the canvass, that flaps to 
and fro in the fresh breeze. 

At another time, this manoeuvre would have attracted the 
attention of the passengers, but now they cared not a jot about 
it. All around them there was more to be seen than their ship 
and its concerns could offer; and all who were not busy collecting 
their luggage and loose property, leaned over the bulwarks ab- 
sorbed in watching the noisy, active life in the bay. 

Close to the Leonfine, that is to say, some two hundred paces 
from the brig, lay a barque from Bremen, that had just arrived, 
or, at any rate, had not been long in harbour; for a flat-bottomed 
boat lay alongside, into which the seamen were lowering the 
passengers' luggage. The lighter was roomy enough to carry a 
pretty heavy load, and a goodly number of men. Cases and 
chests, bales, barrels, boxes, and portmanteaus had been heaped 
up within it in a confused mass ; and a strange-looking company 
of passengers kept guard over their goods, waiting impatiently 
for the moment of departure. 

I^early all of them were armed to the teeth with guns, 
pistols, sabres, and knives. Great bundles of spades, pickaxes, 
and crowbars had been stored up on board; and a couple of 
sailor-looking fellows, with red Chinese sashes and straw-hats, 
but vfithout pistols or daggers, seemed to be the proprietors of 
this Californian passage-boat. 

" All on board ?" roared the mate of the Bremen bark, looking 
down from the deck. 

"All 1 — and thankful to have got clear of your leaky old tub 1" 
shouted a passenger in reply. 

" You'll be glad if you get dry bread to gnaw out here," retorted 
the captain, from his quarter-deck. 

" And that will taste sweet, if we don't see your old mug 
when we're eating it, Captain Meyer," was the flattering 
rejoinder. 

"Let go the rope there !" the mate was heard shouting across 
the deck. " Why, what d'ye mean ? why are you pulliDg the 
boat forward ? Let go the rope ! " 

" Ay, ay, mate," answered a sailor, laughing ; " it's all right — 
we'll let go directly ! " 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



" What are you throwing in there ?" suddenly resumed the 
mate, as six or eight white canvass sacks, carefully sewn up, were 
tumbled into the boat. "What d'ye mean? — What are you 
about ?'\ 

' " Nothing, my hearty ; it's only our wardrobe,*' answered a 
sailor, as six or eight tars scrambled dovvTi the side after their 
property. 

Stop, confound it — there are too many of you !" roared the 
two proprietors of the boat, in a fright. " We shall sink !" 

" Not a bit of it, boys ! Push off — ahoy !" and leaning against 
the side of their ship, the sailors shoved the square-built craft 
out into the bay. 

" Here ! — stop ! — you shan't put off! — stay here ! — clear the 
boat there !" roared the captain, stamping about his deck with 
rage; — for this sudden Hegira of his people, before his very eyes, 
was a little too much for his equanimity. The boatmen, how- 
ever, listened to his objurgations with great equanimity. Eirstly, 
they got an extra dollar for every extra man they put ashore ; 
and, secondly, they had a fellow-feeling with the runaway sailors, 
inasmuch as they happened to be runaways themselves. They 
had certainly only two oars, and the boat could only be propelled 
at a snail's pace ; but then the land was not far off, and that once 
reached, all the captains in the bay could not bring the fugitives 
back. 

Captain Meyer, however, had no intention of letting his men 
land ; and he trusted that the authority he possessed over his 
people would be sufficient to bring them back out of the 
lighter. 

The jolly-boat was speedily lowered, and with his two mates, 
and the carpenter and cook for a crew, he set off in pursuit of 
the fugitives, whom he speedily overtook. The square, punt- 
shaped craft had passed directly under the bows of the Leontine — 
so close, in fact, that one of the oars touched the cable of the 
brig, just as the jolly-boat came hurrying up, and the captain 
bawled hoarsely to his men, ordering them back to their duty. 
His reception was somewhat discouraging. 

"Come over and fetch us, my hearty!" cried the jeering 
sailors, while the passengers overwhelmed their ex-commander 
with abuse. Every conceivable epithet of scorn and hatred was 
]a,vished upon him ; and even this was not the worst ; pieces of 
biscuit began to fly like hail into his boat, and several of the 
men threw sea-water at the captain from their tin cans. 

That nothing was to be done by force, Captain Meyer was 
soon compelled to acknowledge ; so he turned his boat's head. 



2h 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



and made for the shore with all the speed he could use, trusting 
that the authorities would interfere in his favour. If, however,, 
he entertained any such hope, he was too late to realize it ; for 
the lighter soon reached a spot where the sailors could be con- 
veniently landed. The tars shouldered their canvass bags, paid 
their passage-money, and disappeared the next minute in the 
crowd on shore, while the boat rowed slowly on towards the 
usual iandiug-place. 

The commander of the Leontine seemed at one time half inclined 
to go to his fellow-captain's assistance ; but he soon thought 
better of it, and declined to interfere in a business which did 
not concern him, and whose result moreover was exceedingly 
doubtful. 

The passengers and sailors on board the Leontine, more par- 
ticularly the latter, had been very interested spectators of this 
episode ; and so long as the scene lasted, all operations on board 
the brig had been suspended, as if by common consent. The 
captain even forgot the bad effect such an example might have 
on his own crew ; and it was not until the deserters had sprung, 
ashore and disappeared rejoicingly up the incline, that he called 
his men in a gruff and authoritative voice to attend to their 
business. 

The incident served to remiind the passengers that they were 
needlessly wasting their time. Yonder lay California ; and so 
they all crowded to the side, shouting for a boat, that they might 
leave the ship as soon as possible. 

Emigrants to the North- American states or to Australia are 
generally averse to leaving the ship for the first day or two after 
their arrival. They wish to obtain information, and to become 
acquainted with the land where they are to found new homes : 
but here every one wished to get ashore — only to set foot on 
land — land which they could work with spade and pickaxe ; 
and that they should find gold there, they never for a moment 
doubted. 

"Where all were thus crowding to get free, no one had time to 
busy himself about his neighbour ; and thus it happened that 
Mrs. Siebert, who had till then been treated with such distin- 
guished kindness, now stood unheeded and alone on the deck 
with her three children, looking wdth beating heart upon the ba}', 
where she expected every moment to see her husband's boat 
appear. The ship, as it lay at anchor, had some time since 
boistcd the Hamburgh flag ; her husband knew that she would 
arrive in a Hambur^^h vessel about this time, and had doubtless 
been for weeks hoping to see her and his children \ — he had even 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



firmly promised, in his letter, to come on board and fetch her — 
and yet he came not. 

Oid Assessor Mobler alone had kept close to her. At fii'st he 
feared that the youngest child, ^Yhat with the excitement of its 
mother, and the universal confusion on board, might come to 
harm ; and then a vague, but withal disheartening feeling within, 
seemed to tell him, that he would land in that fabulou.s country 
quite soon enough. So, while he gave his protection to the child^ 
he in his turn, as it were, sought protection under the wing of his 
countrywoman ; thinkiug, in his simplicity, he could not introduce 
himself to the rich Calif ornian under better auspices than by 
bringing him the family he had doubtless so long and anxiously 
expected, safe and sound. 

A number of little boats were darting to and fro between the 
various ships and the land, and often passed close by the 
Leontine. But the rowers, if hailed by the impatient crovv d on 
board, either shook their heads or passed on without reply. 
They had other business in hand — what cared they for the new 
comers P "W ere there not shiploads upon shiploads stiil to 
corue ? 

A few little gigs, however, with one boatman in each, came 
alongside to take passengers ashore. The rowers were Americans^, 
who earned their living in this way, and the new-comers won- 
dered to find such men thus employed. Why were they not up 
yonder in the mines digging for gold ? 

Mr. Hetson, who had never quitted the deck for an instant 
since the ship passed through the Golden Gate, hailed one of these 
boats, and engaged it, at an enormous fee, to carry his wife and 
himself, with their luggage. Other boats were secured by the 
rest of the cabin passengers, and, after several long hours had 
dragged past, the square-built, flat-bottomed lighter, which had 
borne the sailors from the Bremen barque, once more appeared in 
sight, steering towards them. 

The captain of the Leo7itine had gone ashore meanv/hile in his 
own boat, and the mate refused to let the well-remembered craft 
come alongside. But the passengers, who felt as if the deck 
were burning under their feet, combined in a body against the 
mate, and threatened to throw him overboard if he tried to pre- 
vent them from leaving the ship. The worthy proprietors of the 
lighter, moreover, took not the slightest notice of the officer's 
threatening vociferation. The sailors, on their part, never ofered 
to interfere, when one or two of the passengers threw a rope to 
the lightermen: whereupon, all who had their chests and boxes 
ready handed them dowD^ and sprang after them with the utmost 



26 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



despatch. Mrs. Siebert was the only uninterested spectator of 
the turmoil. Her eyes were fixed by turns upon the shore and 
upon the approaching boats ; and again and again was she dis- 
appointed. The old Assessor by her side kept preaching patience, 
and begged her not to excite herself needlessly, alleging that in 



arrival of the ship ; and even, on the other hand, if he had seen 
the ship come in, he must have noticed the little fleet by which 
she v/as surrounded. Among these companions one bore a 
Hamburg and another a Bremen flag at the masthead ; and it 
was very possible that Mr. Siebert, the expectant husband, had 
betaken himself to either of these other ships, and, on finding his 
mistake, would come on board the right vessel, where his wife 
and children awaited him. 

Poor Mrs, Siebert nodded assent in silence ; but, confident as 
she had before been, she now felt nervous and low-spirited — so 
very solitary did she seem on the strange coast. She knew very 
well that she would only be left alone for a few houi's ; but she 
had painted her reception in such different colours — had hoped 
her husband would hasten on board while all the passengers were 
still assembled there, and carry her on shore in triumph ; and 
now one boat after another glided by them, and the man she so 
ardently longed to see came not. 

The proprietor of the square-built lighter had come on board, 
and was leaning over the ship's side w^atching the loading of his 
craft. He did not seem to care at all for what was doing on 
board — he was entirely absorbed in looking at the goods they 
were piling up in the lighter. Not two steps from him stood 
the Assessor ; but the lighterman's back was turned towards him, 
and he did not hear when the Assessor addressed him more than 
once in his modest, courteous tone. 

" Hallo, Jack 1 " he cried suddenly to one of his men, " don't 
stow away everything to starboard. D'ye want to capsize the 
old craft for us?" 

" But the passengers ?" observed the man. 

" The passengers must find room where they can," cried the 
lighterman. " This way with it, my boy, or else we sha'n't be 
able to work that oar at all." 

"I beg your pardon," recommenced the Assessor, gaining 
courage (for the sailor had spoken in German), and lightly and 
bashfully tapping the man's broad shoulder. 

" Do you want me ?" asked the seaman, turning round. 

" Do you happen to know a certain Mr, Siebert here in Cali- 
fornia ?" inquired the Assessor, determined to plunge at once into 



the bustle on shore Mr. Siebert 




THE GOLDEN GATE. 



27 



the very midst of tlie afPair. The wife turned towards them as 
she heard her name mentioned. 

" Why, my good friend," replied the lighterman, turning away 
again towards his boat, " California's a largish kind of place, and 
there may be plenty of Sieberts running about in it. By the way, 
I certainly knew a Godfrey Siebert, if it should be he." 

"My husband's name was Godfrey!" exclaimed the wife, 
stepping quickly up to the sailor. " Do you know him, sir ? and 
is he in San Francisco ?" 

" Ha ! " said the man, while a flush mounted into his face, 
"just see that. Are you his wife? Yes, I remember; he 
expected her from Germany." 

"Is he in San Francisco ?" asked the wife still more earnestly. 

" Why," said the man, in an undertone — and he turned away 
to empty his mouth of tobacco-juice — "he is not far from it, 
that's certain. I am sorry, ma'am, to have to tell it — but — the 
fact is, we buried him the day before yesterday." 

"Buried him !" shrieked the poor woman ; and, in her terror, 
she seized the arm of the man who told her the dreadful tidings. 
Even the Assessor set the youngest child, which he had carried 
ail the while in his arms, quickly down on deck, for fear of letting 
it fall, the shock had turned him so faint. But the German sailor 
nodded his head, and continued, — 

" Yes, I am very sorry for it ; but you would have had to hear 
of it sooner or later ; so perhaps it's best you should know the 
worst at once. He died of a sort of dysentery ; and the affair 
must have been a confoundedly quick one, too — for one evening 
wx were together, and the next morning he lay dead in his bed." 

The poor widow had sunk on her knees, and buried her face in 
her hands. Several of the passengers gathered round to hear 
what had happened. 

" Siebert is dead !'* — the news passed rapidly from mouth to 
mouth — " there's a fine affair; now the poor woman is left alone 
in her trouble. And what has become of all his money ?" 

The German shrugged his shoulders. 

" Its a deuce of a place, this California," he said. " I should 
be heartily glad if the poor lady found any of it ; but, you see, it 
happened two days ago. Tell you what : make inquiries at 
Nergel's German Boarding-house. Stop there. Jack — don't take 
anything more on board, we've quite enough. Whatever can't 
go now, must wait till the next trip. I\^w then, in with you, 
every mother's son that's for the shore. We're going to push off^ 
and whoever isn't in will stay behind ! " 

The man swung himself over the bulwark, and was going to 



23 



ON CALIPOENIAN SOIL. 



drop down into his boat, when the Assessor grasped his arm 
again. 

"What was the name of the house/' he asked, in a quick 
eager voice, 'Svhich you named tons, where Mr. Siebert had 
lodged ? " 

Nergel's Boarding-house, Pacific Street," was the brief reply^ 
— and the next moment the man had jumped into his oayu boat. 
After him, pell-mell, crowded the passengers — tliose whose eitccts 
were in the lighter fearing to be left behind ; and the rest fran- 
tically hailed a second square-built punt, that happened to be 
passing, and actually ansvYered their hail, for it was cruising 
about in the bay to land passengers and luggage from newly- 
arrived ships. No one had a care for the poor desolate widow ; 
for though all agreed she was " very badly off, — left alone, with- 
out a husband, in California," — they had yet far too much to 
settle, on their own account, to trouble themselves about an aiiair 
in which, as they observed, " they could do no good, after all." 

Only the old Assessor remained behind. And when the second 
lighter pushed off with its freight of eager gold-seekers, they still 
kept their places — the woman crouching on the deck with her 
face buried in her hands ; the old man standing by her, with the 
youngest boy in his arms, his heart bleeding for very sorrrow, as 
he pointed out the beautiful bay, the pretty boats and the busy 
scene on shore, in vain endeavour to hush the wailing cry of the 
little desolate orphan. 



CHAPTEE III. 

ON CALirOENIAN SOIL. 

During a long sea-voyage, crowded together within the nar- 
row limits of a ship, the passengers naturally grow accustomed to 
one another. People eat out of the same dish, and sleep under' 
the same deck; and at last get so used to bid one another 
" Good morning," that it seems like something omitted, if a day 
passes on which all the companions thus thrown together have- 
not seen and greeted each other. On the voyage, it is usual to 
make plans of keeping together on landing, or of correspondence 
after separation : but wlien the passengers really land, what 
think you becomes of all such friendly schemes ? 



ox CALIPOENIAK SOIL. 



29 



Pour a drop of quicksilver on a smooth table, and see what 
"becomes of it. Just the same thing happens when a shipload 
of emigrants land : however closely they may have kept together 
on board, the first landing — particularly in a gold-finding coun- 
try — seems to sever all bonds, and cancel all the promises of 
friendship, and to scatter the separate travellers like chaff before 
the wind. 

In the lighter, all companionship had already ceased. Every 
passenger had to look to his own baggage, and to look out the 
various packages, which had been thrown some in one corner 
and some in another, or at least to keep a watchful eye upon 
them ; and as soon as the lighter touched the land, the strangers 
began scrambling up the steep, dusty, hot hill, all eagerness to 
enter at once upon their new and active life. Who could think 
here of even bidding the others good bye ? If they met again, 
by any chance, so much the better; if not, v/hy this was 
California, where every man had to look to himself. 

Mr. Hetson and his wife, in their light boat, had long since 
reached the landing-place. On their arrival, they found, by 
chance, an empty van, which had brought a load of goods down 
to the wharf. This conveyance was at once secured, with 
directions to convey the luggage to an hotel. The van drove off 
through the busy streets of the wonderful town, and soon stopped 
before a structure something between a tent and a booth, inas- 
much as the wall on the right of the door consisted of boards 
nailed one over the other, while that on the left was composed of 
sailcloth. Over the entrance shone, in black letters of mighty 
size, the superscription " Union Hotel,'' so that there was no 
doubt as to the identity of the place. 

Union Hotel ! The ramshackle building looked more like a 
booth at a fair, where giants or dwarfs are exhibited for pence, than 
an hotel ; but, you see, in a new country one must not expect to 
find all the comforts and conveniences of the old world. Perhaps 
the interior might fulfil more than the exterior promised ; and 
Hetson only asked, in the first instance, to know if he could have 
accommodation there, and a private room for his wife. 

A sort of waiter — a kind of individual, at least, who might 
represent one of that class in default of a better — had appeared 
at the door in answer to the driver's summons, and showed him- 
self a practical man, by seizing a trunk in one hand and a hatbox 
in the other, which articles he forthwith proceeded to carry off 
into the interior. , 

" Stop ! cried Hetson after him. " Can I have a private 
room here ? " 



30 



ON CALirOENIAN SOIL. 



"Private room? — certainly/' answered the waiter, and dived 
behind the sailcloth partition. There was nothing for it, but for 
Hetson to follow him, and inspect for himself the quarters he 
was to occupy. But the arrangement of the hotel did not even 
come up to the very modest standard Hetson had fixed upon. 
The waiter certainly showed him a private room, but the apart- 
ment in question consisted simply of a narrow space partitioned 
off by a curtain of blue cotton, like the division of a tent. The 
hotel v/as, in fact, composed of eight or ten such " apartments " 
under one roof — the rooms reminded one of those narrow com- 
partments in bathing-estabKshments into which the bathers 
retire to undress. 

Eor men, particularly if their stay was to be brief, these accom- 
modations might sufSce : at least, the place was endurable, and 
might be regarded as a kind of bivouac. But to introduce a lady 
into such a home was quite out of the question. 

The carman had already unloaded the greater part of the 
luggage, when Mr. Hetson reappeared, declaring that he would 
under no circumstances, remain in such a place. Better quarters 
must certainly be obtainable ; at any rate, it was impossible to 
meet with worse. 

He accordingly went down to the van, to secure the convey- 
ance, at any rate until he had found a lodging fit to be inhabited; 
and he was just looking anxiously up and down the street, when 
a man who was passing the hotel, suddenly stopped, looked 
at him attentively for a moment, and exclaimed, — 

" Hetson ! as I'm alive ! Why, old friend, what good wind 
blew you over to California?" 

The man was too remarkable in appearance to be forgotten 
when he had been once seen; and yet Hetson, who looked 
wonderingly at him, could not recollect where he had met him. 

He was a tall stalwart personage, and wore a coloured 
Mexican poncho, with one corner thrown over the left sboulder, 
as usual among the Califomians and Spaniards. On his head 
was a broad-brimmed felt hat, and his little piercing black eyes 
glittered out from among a forest of black hair and beard. His 
trowsers, of coarse black velvet, were open at the sides, and 
adorned with rows of silver buttons down each leg ; a pair of 
heavy Mexican spurs of polished bronze clattered at his heels. 
On the little white hand he stretched out in greeting shone four 
or five handsome rings. Who could he be ? 

" My good sir," said Hetson, in some embarrassment, " you 
certainly have the advantage of me ; for you seem to know me, 
whereas I cannot at all remember where " 



ON CALIFOKNIAN SOIL. 



31 



" Ha ! lia ! lia ! " interrupted the bearded man, laughing. " Am 
I so much changed, that an old college friend doesn't know 
I me again ! Have you no recollection of a certain Bill Siftiy ?" 
"Siftly! is it possible?'^ cried Hetson, joyfully, and he 
heartily shook the proffered hand of the bearded man ; " that is 
i a strange meeting, on my word. You shall tell me presently 
I how you come to be here ; but first let me introduce you to my 
wife.^^ 

"Your wife cried the friend, in some surprise, as he turned 
quickly round towards the lady. 

" Gentlemen," — the carman here struck into the conversation 
— " I can very well fancy how pleasant it must be to meet an old 
acquaintance in this thundering old, burnt-up country. But the 
affair doesn't exactly concern me ; and I cannot be kept here for 
an hour or two, wasting my time. Time is money out here ; 
and if you don't want me any more, pay me, and let me go about 
my business.'* 

" How's this ? what's the row ? " asked Siftiy hurriedly. 
" Have you only just arrived ?" 

" Yes ; and I'm looking for an hotel, where I and my wife 
can quarter ourselves. It is impossible to live in a house like 
this." 

"I should think so," answered Siftiy, laughing; " but I know 
a better one. Turn your horse round, my lad, and drive to the 
'Parker House.' " 

" No room there," grumbled the driver. "Went there just 
now, with another party." 

"/'// find room for you," said he of the cloak confidently 
enough. " Come with me, Hetson. I'll answer for it, they 
shall take you in. Just put all those traps into your van again, 
friend, and we shall be there in no time." 

The man obeyed with rather a bad grace. 

" There are two articles wanting," he said, " which that chap 
yonder carried into the house.'* 

"Yes, yes!" cried Hetson; "a chest and a hatbox. Here, 
waiter, be good enough to hand those things out again." 

" With the greatest pleasure, sir," replied the person addressed, 
without, however, moving from where he stood ; " you shall have 
them, directly you have paid me five dollars for one day's 
lodging." 

"Pay for a day's lodging!" cried the American, in amaze- 
ment ; " why, I never even said I would put up here." 

"You took possession of the room with your luggage," 
answered the waiter, shrugging his shoulders; "and while you 



32 



ON CALIFOrvNIAN SOIL. 



have been standing here, I could have let it three times over. 
If onr hotel isn't good, enough for you, you can at any rate nay 
^vhat you ovre; if you don't, you can't have your goods bad:." 

Weil, now, that's too bad ! " cried Hetson, growing; angry ; 
"and rn just try if " 

" Pay tiie fellow, and have done with it," counselled his codi- 
panion ; " and don't talk of trijing any question here, unless 
you want to lose a hundred dollars instead of fxve. You may be 
glad that the young gentleman in the white apron wasn't exor- 
bitant ; he might have charged you twenty. I shall recommend 
you, Jack,'^ he continued, turning to the waiter with a grin ; 
"but now make haste, and get the things out, for our driver is 
losing patience. You shall have your money." 

The v;aiter nodded his head, disappeared in the doorway of 
the " hotel," and returned directly with the lugga2:e. The boxes 
were again put into the van, Hetson paid his " bill," and a few 
minutes' walk brought them to the chief square of the city, the 
Plaza, as it was called. Here stood a wooden building of several 
stories, the so-called " Parker House." 

Siftly had not boasted in vain. The hotel-keeper found room 
for the married couple, though he could only afford them one 
tiny apartment ; and Mrs. Hetson found herself, if not com- 
fortably, at least decently lodged. 

Hetson had begged the friend so opportunely encountered to 
wait for him below, as he wanted some information from him ; 
and, accordingly, Siftly appointed to meet him in the public 
room, which was used by the guests at once as a v/ineshop and 
gambhng-hall. 

After he had seen his wife as comfortably settled as the cir- 
cumstances allowed, he descended the narrow staircase. At the 
first landing, he ran against Doctor Eascher of the Leontine, who 
was just locking his door before going down stairs. 

" Mr. Hetson, I declare !" cried the Doctor, evidently pleased 
at the meeting. " Have ,you pitched your tent here, like myself? 
This house is like a beehive ; and your wife will have rather a 
disturbed time of it." 

"Ah, Doctor," replied Hetson, shaking hands cordially; "I 
am very glad to have you near us. Do you intend to remain in 
San Prancisco ? " 

" For the present — yes," answered the old man; "butafter- 
■wards I shall betake myself to the mountains, to have a look at 
what they are doing there." 

"And to dig for gold?" 

"Not exactly," answered the old Doctor, with a good-humoured 



ON CALirOIlNLiX SOIL. 



33 



smile ; " my strength would hardly be equal to that. My 
■chief object in coming here has been to investigate the flora 
of the country. The treasures I seek are in the vegetable, 
not the mineral kingdom; and I hardly tliink I shall have come 
in vain. You, too, my dear Mr. Hetsoii, probably intend to look 
out for employment apart from the pick and spade." 

"Who knows ?" answered the young man, with a melancholy 
-sraile. " Up yonder in the mountains — if they are as I fancy 
them — one might, perhaps, avoid unpleasant society, which 
would be thrust upon us here in the town. I should very much 
like to go to the mines." 

" Yv ith your wife ? " 

"Yv^hynot? I have read in the papers that a good many 
women live in the mountains ; and in summer a residence there 
must be very agreeable." 

"I would advise you to consider well before you take any such 
•step, my good Mr. Hetsou," said the old man, shaking his head, 
doubtfully. *^Eor a single man it may be all very well ; but a 
delicate woman like your wife might sink under the hardships of 
such a life, and you would reproach yourself bitterly afterwards. 
Gold is a very good thing, and we all want it, to live ; but if we 
purchase it at the price of something that is still dearer, we shall 
always be losers, if we gather ever so much." 

" Do not be alarmed, my dear Doctor," answered the young 
man. " It was not for gold that I came to California, and I shall 
never be tempted to make a fool of myself to gain it. 80, good 
bye for the present. But you would do me a favour if you would 
give my wife a call. Our room is No. 97. I shall have to be 
out for an hour or so, and just now she vras complaining of a bad 
headache." 

"I shall be very glad to see Mrs. Hetson on dry land," the 
old gentleman said, gallantly ; and, with a friendly v/ave of the 
hand, Hetson sprang down stairs in search of his friend Siftly. 

The Doctor followed slowly, intending to ask I'or some im- 
provements in his apartment. He was not yet accustomed to 
rough it like a Californian, and had still lingering recollections of 
comfortable German inns. Moreover, he longed to enjoy a good 
dinner of fresh meat and vegetables, luxuries not to be obtained 
on a lon<^ sea-voyage, and v/hose loss is often severely felt. 

The dining-room, a large apartment with many tables, was 
almost deserted at that time in the day. Between one or two 
o'clock and the evening there was a comparatively idle time, of 
which the busy v/aiters availed themselves to clear and arrange 
•the tables in readiness for supper. 



34 



ON CALIEOENIAK SOIL. 



The fate of the poor yomig lady, thus thiwu on the inhos- 
pitable shores of California, troubled the old man's thoughts, and 
made him less attentive than he would otherwise have been to 
the scene around him. He sat pensively nodding, and turning 
over in his mind the reasons that had driven her restless husband 
to the mines. Was there no way to cure him of his delusion ? 

The head waiter — a meagre, dried-np specimen of humanity, in 
his shirt-sleeves, like all his colleagues, bnt with faultlessly white 
linen, a garnet breastpin, and an unmistakably Erench sunburnt 
countenance— had noticed the solitary guest, and sent one of his 
ministering spirits to receive the new-comer's orders. 

The envoy — a slim young man, with fair hair and blue eyes, a 
blonde moustache, and a deep scar, strangely at variance with his 
peaceful occupation, on his right cheek — stepped up to the 
stranger with the bill of fare in his hand. 

" Anything you want, sir ? " 

The Doctor, absorbed in his own cogitations, looked up with 
an absent air. The next moment he was staring in speechless 
wonder at the waiter, who looked down at him with a laughing 
eye. 

" And what brings you to California, Doctor ? " he inquired at 
last, stretching out his hand to the physician. 

" Baron Lanzot," cried the Doctor, springing up in amaze- 
ment from his seat. " Good heavens ! are you acting a play 
here?" 

" If you like to put it so. Doctor, I am," was the light-hearted 
reply of the young man, as he seized his friend's hanrl, and shook 
it warmly. "Eor two hundred dollars a month, I have for a 
short time been taking the waiter's part instead of pursuing a 
phantom in the mines — the phantom of the millionaire." 

" Eut, for mercy's sake, Baron, if your parents were to hear of 
it — your mother would fret to death." 

^' 1 think her far too sensible a w^oman, Doctor, to do anything 
of the kind. She would rather see me honestly earning my bread 
here than that I should go about idle, and perhaps run into debt. 
"We, who have been cast by fate upon this coast, must one and all 
work for our livelihood, and while I, as " garcon," am helping 
some to their dinners here, others are digging gold for me out of 
the mines, as if I were playing the gentleman. Whether the 
money comes directly or indirectly into my pocket does not 
matter, so long as it finds its way there." 

" You are a philosopher. Baron." 

" 1 beg your pardon, I am a waiter," laughed the young man, 
and unless you make haste and order something i shall pro- 



ON CALIEOiliflAX SOIL, 



35 



bably receive a wigging from my superior out youder — mon 
capi'taine I always cali him." 

" But I can't allow you to wait upon me ! " exclaimed the 
Doctor, in comical embarrassment. 

" You will be well satisfied with me I am sure/' answered the 
waiter, presenting the bill of fare, with a slight bow. " Please 
give your orders : beefsteak, roast beef, mutton-chops, eggs, 
potatoes, and beans, — you cannot expect much variety here ; but 
our wines are first-rate, and all smuggled." 

The guest took the bill of fare, but put it down again, and 
said, — 

" No, really, Baron, the whole affair seems to me like a ridicu- 
lous dream. You, whom I last met at Prince Lichtenstein's soiree, 
wearing a ribbon, and dancing with the Princess herself — to find 
you here with a napkin under your arm, and a bill of fare in your 
hand. Go, go, you are joking with me." 

"As I see very well," said the young man, with a smile, ''that 
you are wasting your time, a very precious commodity in Cali- 
fornia, with totally useless ejaculations, I shall take you in hand, 
and order you something to eat on my own responsibility. I 
hope you will approve of our fare. When you afterwards learn 
what prices people pay here, you will feel convinced that we do 
not keep house in joke, but in bitter earnest." 

With that he strolled, laughing, back to the buffet, leaving the 
Doctor rigid and speechless with astonishment at his table ; he 
had never thought California could be such a strange place ! 

Baron Lanzot, or Emile, as he was called in his capacity of 
waiter, soon returned, spread out the dishes with much address, 
and remained standing before the guest on the opposite side of 
the table. 

" But, my dear Baron." 

" Emile, if you please." 

"It won't do, Baron; indeed, it won't do," cried the old 
man in perfect despair. " You must consider I am not a Cali- 
fornian yet." 

"That certainly is a good excuse," ansv/ered Emile. "But be 
assured you have much to see of which you have at the present 
moment no idea. Here, in California, all the conventionalisms 
and customs of life, which we in our old country think indispen- 
sable, are broken through. 'Every man lives for himself as well 
as he can, or as badly, as the case may be, and nobody cares 
about him; so if he keeps on the surface he has no one to thank 
but himself. We certainly live under the laws of a civilized 
nation, but scarcely more than nominally ; for there is no suf- 

D 2 



36 



ON CALIFORKIAX SOIL. 



ficeiit force to maintain these laws, and consequently the ' liglifc 
of the strong hand ^ flourishes here as fairly as it bloomed in our 
own dear old fatherland in the middle ages." 
" But why did you go to California ? " 

" Ask the year 1848/' answered the young Baron, shniggmg 
his shoulders. " There is nothing more terrible than civil war. 
To avoid that, as I had a choice left nie, I preferred taking this 
step. Whether I shall like my position for any length of time, 
is another question, Y>ith which I do not trouble my head just 
Eow. Certain it is that I am in California ; and ' among the 
wolves one must howl,' as the saying is. Are you lodgiDg here, 
in the house ? " 

The Doctor nodded in reply, and fell to valiantly upon the 
dishes before him; but he could not help shaking his head in a 
doubtfal fashion, nor could he in the least taste what he was 
eating. Emile was now called away, and the conversation 
interrupted. 

Hetson, meantime, had gone into the general room, where he 
was to meet Siftly, and was so surprised at the scene, that for a 
moment he completely forgot the object with which he came. 

It was a hall, not very lofty, but fifty or sixty paces long, by 
forty in breadth. The walls looked sufficiently bare, but were 
here and there covered — it would be wrong to say embellished — 
by oil paintings, bad alike in design and execution. Their object, 
however, was not to gratify the desire for the beautiful in the 
beholder, but to excite his senses, and keep him for a time from 
leaving the hall ; and this intention they fully answered. 

To the right a bar had been erected for the sale of spiiituous 
liquors; and the background was occupied by a high platform or 
crchestra, roughly put together, on which sat a number of men 
with musical instruments, who could hardly be called musicians, 
'^rhey certainly made up a kind of band, in which every necessary 
instrument was represented; but their concerted playing wns 
more remarkable for strenuous endeavour than for successful 
execution ; and after listening for a minute or two to their per- 
ibrmance, it became apparent to tlie listener that they had only 
agreed upon a certain tune to be played, and were accompan^^ing 
one another entirely by ear. Whoever happened inadvertently to 
get out of tim.e, had only to lie in wait for a convenient oppor- 
tunity when he might "strike in" again: and when they had 
played some pieces in this way three or four times throngh, the 
audience could make a fair guess as to what tunes the band had 
been endeavouring to execute. 

There was not, iiideed, any great necessity for accuracy of 



ON CALIFOKNIAN SOIL. 



37 



plajiDg— the only stipulation was for " music" of some kind or 
other; and the band soon learned to get through the few 
American favourite songs and national melodies which were 
knoAvn throughout the land. First in order among these came, 
of course, Yankee Doodle," then " Washington's March," 
the " Star-spangled Banner," and a very dolorous march, which, 
strangely enough, they called " Napoleon's Retreat." Every 
now and then the public would accompany these tunes with 
a great noise of singing and stamping ; and the guests were, 
moreover, good-natured enough to listen to them again and 
again; not caring greatly, in fact, whether the "melodies" were 
played on really artistic instruments, or executed on a Jews' 
harp. 

The music was provided in the same spirit as the pictures, for 
which works of genius it, to a certain extent, paved the way. 
The band lured the passers-by into the hall, and the pictures 
kept them there ; by means of both they spent their money at 
the bar, and gambled it away at the play-tables. When the 
game of " hazard " had once been well tried, pictures and music 
became alike unnecessary. 

The gambling-tables formed the central object of the hall; 
and Hetson stood still in amazement at the entrance. He had 
heard of Califomian " hells," but he had no idea of the scale on 
which they were conducted. 

About thirty tables v^ere there, not ranged in order, but 
grouped in an irregular way, wherever there was space between 
the pillars, room being of course left between them in the form 
of passages. Each of these tables had its separate interest, 
played with its own capital, and often at some peculiar game. 

Among these tables the idlers, of whom there were plenty 
even then at San Erancisco, elbowed their way, till they stopped 
at one or other of the hanks, attracted by the display of gold 
pieces and silver dollars. Americans and Germans, Erenchmen 
and Englishmen, Mexicans and Californians, crowded together 
in motley groups. Some were handsomely dressed, others in 
patched and tattered mining garb, with battered hats and shoes 
trodden down at heel. But no one cared to look at the outward 
appearance of a visitor. The gold displayed upon the tables 
made all equal; and so long as the tatterdemalions, as was 
frequently the case, wore under their greasy jackets a leather 
bag heavy with gold-dust, no man in the hall took umbrage at 
their presence or contact. 

Cards, dice, roulette, games of chance of every kind, were here 
in active work, and large sums changed hands every minute^ 



38 



ON CALIFOENIAN SOIL. 



without calling forth any expression of excitement or passion, 
save now and then a muttered curse. 

Hetson would perhaps have stood for another hour, gazing at 
the novel scene around, had not the voice of Siftly recalled him 
to himself. 

" So you are here — are you ? " he cried with a laugh : " that's 
right ; you have here at a glance the quintessence of CaUfornian 
life and practice. Here we find concentrated all the effect of 
the turmoil at the mines, and these tables are the Califomian 
barometer, to tell us how the wealth of the country rises and 
falls. If the tables are badly filled, you may be sure that the 
harvest in the mines has turned out queerly, from some cause 
or other. If, on the contrary, the fellows come crowding in 
even by day, as is the case now, the people have ' made out ^ 
capitally, as they call it, and the gold goes merrily from hand to 
hand. Have you tried your luck yet at any of the tables 

" I never play,'' answered Hetson, quietly. 

"Nonsense !" laughed out Siftly ; "you mustn't talk like that, 
here in California. That you intend to dig for gold yourself, I 
do not suppose; and you must open the gate a Httle way, to let 
[Fortune come in, or else she'll never visit you. Eor my part, I 
have got everything I can call my own from those tables yonder, 
and, with a little care, I shall gatiber a little fortune together, and 
go back to the States a rich man." 

" But suppose you should lose all you have won ?" 

" Fortune befriends the bold man, my boy ! " replied the 
American. " Besides, there are ways and means of compelling 
her to stand your slave ; and if you like, I may, perhaps, some 
day teach you the secret. But now we won't waste our time 
here, doing nothing ; let us take a turn through the room. I 
have not introduced you to California yet." 

Without waiting for a reply, he drew Het son's arm within his 
own, and strolled with him down one of the lanes which had 
been left free between the tables. 

A few of these latter, were for the moment, unoccupied ; that 
is to say, no strangers stood there — for at each table sat a couple 
of professed players opposite each other, while between them 
lay heaps, varying in size, composed of silver dollars, golden 
coins, gold-dust in little leather bags, and lumps of the raw 
metal piled negligently up. The disengaged players usually 
passed the time in shuffling the cards, cutting the packs, and 
trying possible chances, till a passer-by, pausing to stake his 
money upon one or other of the cards, usually drew other 
venturesome spirits after him. 



ox CALIEOKZ^IAN SOIL. 



39 



At one of these disengaged tables sat two men opposite each 
-other, occupied, like most of the others, in shuffling the cards. 
Thej attracted Hetson's attention, through the marked contrast 
each presented to the other. One was a little fat, red-cheeked 
man, with a stand-up collar of such portentous dimensions as 
half to cover his ears ; in fact, he could only just see over the 
edge when he turned his head to the right or left. The other 
was a very different personage — a long thin man, guiltless in 
appearance of any vestige of linen, though an American's shii't 
generally plays a very prominent part in his attire. His tight- 
fitting brown coat was closely buttoned up, his thin lips were 
closed, and his little brown eyes more than half shut. He had, 
moreover, pulled the huge black hat he wore in the room tightly 
over his brows, and looked generally as if he would not display 
an inch of his countenance that he could by any possibility 
conceal. 

''A pair of strange figures, those!" whispered Hetson to his 
companion, pointing furtively to the pair. " What various kinds 
of people fate sometimes throws together ! " 

" Doesn't it ? " assented Siftly. " Come, let us step up to 
their table ; — I've v/on many a dollar of those two chaps, and I 
don't believe they are by any means the sharpest players in the 
room : they don't seem to be doing much business either." 

Y/ithout waiting for his friend's assent, he stopped in front of 
the table, took a handful of dollars from his pocket, and staked 
them upon the card nearest him. Not a w^ord was exchanged ; 
but the players at the table drew their cards, and Siftly was 
the winner. 

"Come, do you try now, Hetson," he said encouragingly. 
Who knows what fortune may be in store for you in California ? 
— and you should not let the first day on shore pass without 
putting it to some use." 

Hetson hesitated. Till that moment he had really never 
played ; but the heaps of gold around him on the tables, the 
golden tinkling of the coin, and perhaps the rapid way in which 
his friend had won, all combined to urge him to act upon Siftly's 
suggestion. He took a half-eagle (a gold piece worth five dollars) 
from his pocket, staked it on a card,— and won. 

"Let it stand," whispered his companion, " the thing will do." 

They cut again, and this time Hetson's card lost. 

" I should stake upon the ace," observed his companion. 

" I have more confidence in the seven," answered Hetson ; and 
accordingly he risked ten dollars on the card of his choice. But 
he lost again and again, and in a few seconds fifty dollars had 



40 



ON CALII'OKIsIAN SOIL. 



been transferred from his pocket to the possession of the two> 
players. 

"The deuce is in it!" whispered Siftly, and he blurted out a? 
round oath. " I think the two rascals are cheating you ; but 
wait, I'll keep a sharp eye on them. Put a fifty upon the knave, 
— it has lost three times running, and is sure to win now.'' 

" Thank you, no," answered Hetson, quietly. " I have done 
as you bade me, and paid a very good premium for my appren- 
ticeship. Those two gentlemen are quite welcome to my fifty 
dollars ; but I have no more money for them, and shall not play 
again." 

"Nonsense!" cried Siftly; "you surely won't leave them 
your fifty dollars, without at least making an attempt to get 
them back ?" 

" But I shall, indeed," replied Hetson, as he turned from the 
table ; " for the attempt might cost me a good deal more. But 
what wonderful tones are those that fill the room all at once ? 
Just now we had that horrible confusion of all possible wind and 
stringed instruments, and now on a sudden this divine melody. 
How comes such music into a hell like this ?" 

" How ! " muttered Siftly, who had, meanwliile, unobserved by 
his companion, exchanged a rapid and secret glance of intelli- 
gence with the attenuated player, and now stood sulkily jingling^ 
the silver dollars in his pocket ; "it's the Spanish girl who plays 
here for two hours every day, — an hour in the afternoon and 
another in the evening. I think her name is Manuela. Eor m}^ 
part, her fiddling doesn't interest me much ; and our chaps, gene- 
rally, care very little for it ; but the sefiores are all mad about 
it ; and as soon as ever she begins, you see them come trooping 
into the room in their coloured cloaks. D'ye see how they're 
pouring in over yonder ? To please them, the rest of us stand 
the scraping for a little while ; for most of the lads have gold, 
and they are keen players one and all." 

Hetson stood rooted to the spot, so deeply was he touched by 
the playing of the Spanish girl, whom he now saw standing on 
the platform with a violin in her hand. The other " musicians " 
seemed to feel that their instruments were not worthy to accom- 
pany such thrilling melody; and they listened in profound 
silence to the sounds which came trembling through the air like 
the soft breathings of an j^lolian harp. 

But it was only on the orchestra, in close proximity to the 
performer, that her playing could really be heard to advantage ; 
for in the hall below the human mass went heaving as noisily to 
and fro as before. What cared they for the player or her 



ON CALtFORNIAN SOIL. 



41 



melody? If the tones had come quivering from an angel's harp, 
the jingliog of the gold on the tables had been for them a more 
inviting sonnd. 

"Hetson!" the American at last impatiently broke out, "I 
! thought yon wanted to say something to me. I have neither 
time nor inclination to stand here listening to that fiddling ; so, 
if yon will not play any more, let us hear what you have to tell 
' me, or I shall be off.'' 

"You are right," answered Hetson, quickly — and he seized 
his companion's arm, and drew him towards the door ; " I was 
a fool to give myself up for so long to these new impressions. 
Come out into the open air, and you shall know all." 

"Oh!" said Siftly, with a grin, "you've hardly set foot ou 
Califomian soil, and have got your secrets already?" 

" Not exactly a secret ; though I must beg you to speak to no 
one else on the subject," answered Hetson, as they pushed their 
way, with some difficulty, to the door, and at last emerged into 
the open street. " But I want your advice, and I am sure you 
will not refuse it me." 

By this time the two men had gained the Plaza, and were 
walking slowly, arm-in-arm, across the open square, leaving the 
thickest of the crowd behind them, near the houses and tents. 
When they were about in the centre of the Plaza, Hetson stood 
still and asked — 

"' Is there any place here, where one can see lists of the names 
of newly-arrived strangers ?" 

"Lists of strangers!" repeated Siftly, in surprise, — "what 
do you want with those ? And who ever troubles his head here 
about arrivals or departures?" 

" But are such lists kept here at all ? " 

" I think so. The people themselves are not troubled with 
questions, but the captains are made to hand in their lists of 
passengers — at least, so I am told. But over the thousands 
who come from the States across the mountains there is no 
control, simply because it would be impossible to establish any." 

" The ships' Hsts would answer my purpose," replied Hetson, 
quickly. " Where are they to be seen ? " 

"At the Court-house, I believe, where an inquiry-office for 
strangers has been or is to be estal3lished. But you are surel^^ 
not afraid of a creditor? Ha — ha — ha ! he'd have to bring a 
good lot of money with him, to enforce a claim of that kind 
here, against an American. If you were a foreigner, it v.'ould 
alter the case. Besides, if I remember rightly, you're a lawye'J 
yourself, and " 



42 



ON CALIFOENIAN SOIL. 



''It is not a creditor," interrupted Hetson sternly, — "and 
the matter in which I want your advice has nothing to do with 
money, or money^s worth. It involves the peace and happiness 
of my whole life " 

''What is the matter with you?" asked Siftly, in astonish- 
ment, — *' you seem quite beside yourself. Whose arrival do you 
expect, or fear?'' 

"Fear — yes, fear; you have hit on the right word," hissed 
Hetson, seizing the man by the arm, and looking nervously 
round, as if he half expected to see the bated Presence which 
poisoned his whole existence, standing beside him. 

" Pear — bah ! " muttered the American, contemptuously. " If 
it is any one who can be hurt with powder and shot, or cold steel, 
what have you to fear ? I don't fear the Evil One himself." 

Hetson looked wildly at him. In his own soul a new thought, 
and with it a ray of hope, seemed to arise. 

"Who is it?" asked Siftly, while the scornful smile still 
played about his mouth. 

"The man who was engaged to my wife," whispered his 
companion. 

" Ha ! ha ! ha ! " roared the American, shouting with rude 
laughter. "That is certainly a strange kind of relationship. 
Were you not engaged to her yourself ? " 

" Listen to me," gasped Hetson, his voice almost choked by 
rage and pain, — "my wife was engaged to be married before ever 
she knew me. She thought her lover was dead, and so married 
me ; and afterpjards she received the news that he was still alive, 
and was coming to seek her out." 

" And how came you to hear of this ?" 

" She told me herself — showed me the letter she had received 
from him." 

"She did? Well, then, I don't consider the matter so very 
dangerous. Then she doesn't want to have anything more to do 
with him." 

"I fear she loves him more than ever," whispered Hetson, 
" and only acts from a sense of duty." 
"Does he know where she is ?" 

" I hope not. At any rate, I have put him upon a false track, 
if he should try to seek her out. But if he were to " 

"You're making yourself wretched from mere suspicion," 
said the American. " Where is the use of all these ' ifs ' and 
'buts?' Eirst, let him come, then it will be time enough to 
remove him if he becomes at all dangerous. Is he one of our 
people ? " 



02n" CALiFcrv:^;L&:N' soil. 



43 



^'No; an Englishman/' 
^ " A Britisher ? — and all this fuss about him ? " cried Siftly, 
: with a laugh, as he extricated himself from the grasp with which 
! his companion had seized his arm in his excitement. " I took 
I you for a fellow of more sense. If he is wise, he will not come 
i after you, and if he really comes, we'll sicken him of hunting on 
I another man's ground. But tell me now — what ever put it into 
your head to come to California with your wife ? What in the 
name of creation do you think of doing with her in a place like 
this, and where are you going to stop ? In the town here r " 

"1 do not know yet, myself," was Hetson's reply. "I only 
wanted to go away — to fly from the place where I feared, each 
' moment, to encounter a rival ; and there was California.'^ 
I The most unlucky place on the face of the earth for you to 
choose," interrupted'^Siftly. " After some time it may certainly 
come to pass that women and families will locate themselves 
here ; but now the whole country is only a rough State for men. 
You might keep your wife like a princess, in any other country, 
with the gold you wiH have to spend here in buying the bare 
necessaries of life. But that is an affair that concerns you alone. 
By the way, what is the name of that English gentleman of 
whom you're in such tremendous terror, — perhaps I may meet 
with him by chance, some day !" 

His name is Golway — Charles Golway." 
" All right, I'll remember the name," said Siftly, with a nod. 

And what am I to do now ? " 
" Do ? — why, nothing. Wait till he really comes, and then 
tell him, straight out, that you wiU send a bullet through his 
brain, without further warning, if you catch him speaking a 
single word to your wife ; and, if necessary, be as good as your 
word. You need not be afraid of the laws. In the first place, 
they will protect you, where the right is so palpably on your side ; 
and if they did not, we are strong enough here to settle all 
opposition. But now I must be off ; — I have already wasted too 
much time gossiping with you this evening : you'U see me again 
in the hall of Parker House." 
" But the court-house ?" 

"There it is — that long building, yonder," 'said Siftly, point- 
ing with his arm across the Plaza ; and nodding to Hetson, he 
strode rapidly down the street leading to the bay. 



THE PLAZA OP SAN THAN CISCO. 



CHAPTEE lY. 

THE PLAZA OF SAN PEANCISCO. 

The " Plaza" or great square of San Erancisco, now surrounded 
Tvitli splendid and massive buildings, exhibited, in the summer 
of the year 1819, a motley mixture of wooden shealings and 
canvass tents, hastily raised for their accommodation by the first 
emigrants. 

The upper face of the square was certainly occupied by the old 
court-house, built, under Mexican rule, of unbunit bricks called 
adobies. With this exception, however, the few months that 
had elapsed since the first discovery of gold had effaced all traces 
of Spanish character; and a collection of buildings had sprung up 
which, for curious multiformity of structure, could be compared 
with no other collection of dwellings in any part of the world. 

Only at the lower end of the square, opposite the court-house, 
stood the building of several stories, already mentioned under 
the title of "Parker House," erected by an American named 
Parker, and yielding an enormous rent, partly by means of the 
play -tables, and partly from being used as an hotel and eating- 
house. 

Close to it stood the El Dorado, now one of the most splendidl}^- 
appointed gambling ''hells" in the world, then only a large 
widely-spread tent ; and to the right and left extended other 
smaller tents and wooden sheds, almost all devoted to gambling 
and drinking purposes, and aiming at nothing more ambitious 
than to afford a shelter of some kind to their inmates. 

The Plaza formed, as it were, the central point of the town, 
concentrating in itself the chief trafiic of San Erancisco, and 
crossed by the principal streets. Strangers who came into San 
Erancisco were certain at once to make for the square, or to be 
hurried thither by the tide of population. The hucksters in par- 
ticular considered it the most advantageous spot for displaying 
their goods, which they offered here for sale, sometimes in baskets 
they could carry about, at others on tables which could be readily 
fixed or moved" about from place to place. Of course, no control 
had yet been estabhshed over these people, and whoever had any 



THE PLi^ZA OE SAN FSANCISCO. 



45 



article to offer to the public could choose Ms standing-room 
according to his own fancy. If he happened to get in the way of 
the traffic, the masses of passers-by were sure to push him aside 
quickly enough. 

The chief tide of the human flood surged past close beside the 
houses. Most of the people lounged out of one gambling-tent 
into another, or went about their business by the road that led 
past these domiciles. On the Plaza itself only isolated groups 
collected here and there, or single passengers struck across, as a 
■short cut to the streets leading to the bay. 

It was there that Siftly left his newly-found friend ; and, long 
after the American's ]\Iexican cloak had disappeared among the 
crowd of pedestrians, Hetson remained standing, as if in a dream, 
on the same spot, staring straight before him. The words of 
comfort spoken by Siftly had rather increased Hetson's anxiety 
than diminished it ; for had he not taken it for granted that the 
rival would really follow them ? The very thought sent the 
blood galloping through his veins, and made his heart beat 
thickly, — it was the thought that he might perhaps lose his wife, 
— an idea on which he dared not dwell, for it would have driven 
him mad. In vain he strove to bring before his mind every 
argument of common sense, — in vain he repeated to himself, over 
and over again, that Jenny loved him, and would never forsake 
him : the dark thought was still there. A malicious sprite 
seemed to whisper in his ear, over and over again, that first love 
was indelible in a human heart ; and his morbid imagination 
painted his rival as a man endowed with every charm of appear- 
ance and manner, who had only to show himself to revive the old 
love in the heart of Hetson's wife. 

As he stood thus, there came across the Plaza the strangely- 
attired figure introduced to the reader's notice in a former 
chapter. Even the Americans, accustomed as they were to mar- 
vellous sights, could not let it go by unnoticed ; here and there 
men stood still to gaze after it as it passed along. 

This object of general attention vv^as no other than our old 
friend Ballenstedt, who came striding across the Plaza v*dth his 
pea-green cloak, his trousers tucked up for a march, his hat 
pressed firmly on the back of his head, under his left arm a bundle 
and his faithful green cotton umbrella, and in his right hand a for- 
midable spade. He did not seem to have decided into what street 
he should turn, for every now and then he stopped, and looked 
round in every direction, without seeming to bring his observations 
to a satisfactory result. 

At last, he bad reached the place where Ilelson stcoci, still 



46 



THE PLAZA OE SAIS' TilAlfCISCO. 



■wrapped in his own cogitations. The German went up to him, 
touched the mnsing man's elbow with the handle of his spade, 
and accosted him with — 

"I say, sir, could you tell me the shortest w^ay to the 
mines f 

Hetson turned, startled by the suddenness of the question ; 
but the other, who at once recognized him, continued, without 
waiting for his answer, and, without seeming to care whether his 
question, asked in German, had been understood or not, — 

" Oh, dear ! I see you are one of our own people, so you 
won't know any more than I do. Well — you'll excuse my asking 
Are you going to the mines too ?" 

Hetson shook his head impatiently, as a sign that he did n 
understand the applicant's question ; he did not even know hi 
in his hideous cloak. He turned quickly away in the directio 
of the court-house, determined, at least, to satisfy himself by a 
inspection of the list of arrivals. 

" Well, that fellow 's proud enough," grumbled Ballenstedt t 
himself. "Never mind, my man; you may carry your head 
high as you will ; I wouldn't change with you four weeks hence^ 
I know," and, grasping his spade tighter in his hand, he was 
pursuing his way, when a couple of laughing voices hailed 
him : — 

" Ballenstedt, here ! Hollo, Ballenstedt ! " 

The hero of the pea-green cloak turned in the direction of t 
voices. Seriously speaking, he did not care to be hailed a 
detained by any of his late fellow-passengers. He had no tim 
to waste, and the sooner he got to the mines, he thought, t' 
better for him ; besides, he did not want any one to know whith 
he was bound. 

But, with another shout of " Hollo, Ballenstedt, my boy ! 
two men came up to where he stood, and stopped, laughing 
his appearance. " Whither are you bound now ?" exclaim 
one of the laughers. " You're not going to begin gold-diggin 
so soon, surely ?" 

It was Lamberg, who seemed to have been solacing himse 
with a friendly bottle, and Hufner was with him. 

"Do you suppose I'm going to take lodgings here, and spen 
my money ? " answered Ballenstedt, without stopping to retu' 
their greeting. " I've no time to waste, for I have to be back * 
Germany in ten months." 

"In ten months ! " laughed Lamberg. "Then you won't b 
able to dig up much ground out yonder ; for you must recko 
five months for your journey home." 



THE -£L\ZA OE SA^: PrvANClSCO. 



47 



"Never mind that," answered the imperturbable Balienstedt; 
" I only want twenty thousand dollars." 

"Twenty thousand dollars — really, not more!" exclaimed 
Lamberg, opening his eyes with woncler ; " and the fellow talks 
of it as coolly as if he had the notes in his pocket, and had only 
to go to the bank to get thera changed into gold. And what are 
you going to do with that insignificant sum, old boy ? " 

" To buy the new inn at Hesselbach," answered the knigbt of 
the cloak ; " it's to be sold for just that price." 

"And do you really think, Mr. Balienstedt," said Hufner, 
impressed, in spite of himself, by the man's air of quiet confi- 
dence, " that you will be able to dig such a sum out of the mines 
within that time?" 

" Do I think so ? " answered Balienstedt, with a ludicrous 
look of wonder. "If I hadn't been S2ire of it, do you think I'd 
have come all these thousands of miles to California, eh ? " 

"'Ha! ha! ha!" roared Lamberg, stamping with laughter. 
" What a character you are, Balienstedt." But Hufner, some- 
what dazzled on his own account by the mention of the sum, and 
the short time necessary to earn it ; and seeing, moreover, in Bah 
lenstedt's great brown fists a sort of warrant of fitness for toil to 
which he himself felt hardly equal, said, — 

" If I thought so, Mr. Balienstedt, I should very much like to 
go with you at once. Two men working in partnership always 
get on better than they would separately, and I already intended 
to start to-morrow morning. Have you a few minutes to 
spare ?" 

"I ! " said Balienstedt; "no, indeed." 

" Ten minutes, at the most, would be enough for me," urged 
Hufner. " Come, you can give me those for old acquaintance 
sake. My things are tied together already, and I've only to go 
to the street yonder to fetch them. You'll wait an instant or two 
for me, won't you ?" 

" Are you mad ?" cried Lamberg, who thought a resolution 
based upon such grounds something beyond a joke. "Balienstedt 
doesn't even know the places yet where he's likely to find any 
gold." 

But Hufner only repeated, " You'll wait here a minute or two 
for me, won't you?" lor a vague feeling possessed him that this 
was a lucky moment, on which he must seize, unless he would 
have his chance vanish from before his very eyes. So, without even 
waiting to hear Ballenstedt's answer, he started off across the 
Plaza towards Kearney-street, followed by Lamberg, who hoped 
to dissuade him from his foolish scheme. 



■48 



THE PLAZA OF SAN rEANCISCO. 



"Indeed!" grumbled Ballenstedt, with a look of stolid cun- 
ning. "You want to go with me, do you? On board, the 
-gentleman didn't care a rush about me ; but now that his sharp 
nose scents the gold, I'm all at once good enough for his co\n- 
pany. Well, I only wish he may find me out, that's ail," — and 
as soon as he saw the two friends turn down one street, the pea- 
green mantle vanished away in another, and was seen no more. 

At least a quarter of an hour had elapsed, when a car laden 
with luggage drove up the street leading from the bay. EoUow- 
ing the vehicle, on foot, with bowed head, came a woman, leading 
•a child in each hand, and beside her walked an elderly gentleman, 
neatly attired, with a third child on his arm. He did not seem 
at ease in his occupation of nurse, however ; for, in spite of the 
novelty that surrounded him on all sides, he looked neither to tlie 
right nor to the left, and seemed only anxious to avoid attracting 
the notice of the passers-by. In this intention he did not suc- 
€eed, for just as the little procession reached the middle of the ^ 
Plaza, a well-known voice called out — i 

" Assessor ! confound it, where are you going ? " I 

Assessor Mohler turned his head in the direction of the voice! 
and beheld his old fellow-passenger the Counsellor, who, pipe ij 
mouth, just as he had always appeared on board, came stridinJ 
after him. 1 

"Ah, Mr. Counsellor," said the friendly Assessor, "I am very 
gladto v;elcome you on dry land. I am going, as you see, up 
into the town with poor Mrs. Siebert, to the boarding-house where 
her late husband died." 

" Hem, yes — heard of it — very sorry — confounded a^uair 
altogether," muttered the man of law, with a slight access of 
compassion. " Well, can't be helped," he added, by way of con- 
solation — "must secure property at once, and go home in next 
ship. Rascally country, California; ask you seven dollars a pound 
for bad canister; never heard of such a thing. How can a 
woman live there ? " 

To this speech the poor woman made no reply. Grief and 
despair had quite broken her down. She had anticipated with 
such certainty of confidence during the whole voyage the pleasure 
she should have in landing in California ; and now she seemed to 
liave lost even the strength to notice what was going on around 
her. The Counsellor left her to herself, and questioned the 
Assessor about his boarding-house, towards which he wended his 
way, for the Counsellor had only left the ship with the intention 
•of "'securing lodgings before taking his luggage ashore. As he 
tumbled out his v/ords and sentences in his ovvii remarkable 



THE PLAZA OP SAN FEANCISCO. 



49 



•fashion, the child on the Assessor's arm became frightened, and 
began to cry, refusing to be comforted. This did not prevent 
the Counsellor from continuing to relate his impressions of the 
country, of ^yhich, by the way, he had not yet seen anything ; 
but the little immigrant seemed determined to engross the con- 
versation. The louder the Counsellor spoke, the more loudly did 
the child scream, until the people in the streets stopped to look 
after them. A little child was no common object in California. 

The poor Assessor keenly felt tlie discomforts of his position, 
and once or twice cast despairing glances at the van beside which 
they walked, in search of a snug corner wherein to deposit his little 
•crying charge. But it was a thing not to be done ; the mother, 
too, took not the slightest notice of the child, knowing it to be 
in very good hands ; so the Assessor was obliged, perforce, to 
have patience. 

It would perhaps have been an object of still greater curiosity 
to the passer-by, that strange little caravan, if San Erancisco had 
not, at that time, been a place where novelties crowded too thickly 
upon each other for any to attract more than temporary notice. 
The attention of the pedestrians was, moreover, in this instance 
diverted to another, and certainly a more singular group. 

The rumours that had gone abroad respecting California repre- 
sented the country as little better than an extensive den ol rob- 
bers, in which a man was continually obliged to carry pistols on 
full cock for the protection of his life, and of his bag of gold. 
That in the wild country lawless acts were at times perpetrated, 
there is no denying ; the whole circumstances under which men 
lived there were lawless ; but the accounts had been greatly 
exaggerated. 

In consequence of these alarming reports, the majority of 
emigrants, who could not fancy a country might be safe w'ithout 
police, had provided themselves with every kind of w^eapon; and 
Hfles, daggers, and pistols, formed very important items in a 
miner's outfit. 

The ne plus ultra of this morbid mania for self-detence was 
exhibited in the appearance of a little company of men, who came 
marching across the Plaza, and certainly deserved the notice they 
attracted. 

There w^ere five persons in all. The leader, a gigantic per- 
sonage with a curling black beard and broad shoulders, marched 
gravely at their head. This man, who must have stood nearly 
seven feet in his slippers, wore a broad-brimmed felt hat, a green 
blouse, and white trowsers. Eound his waist was a girdle of 
wdiite leather, about five inches broad, whereunto was appended a 



50 THE PLAZA OP SAN PHANCISCO. 

formidable broadsword, tbat clanked over the stones at eacli step 
the wearer took; beside the broadsword, there slione a moderate- 
sized hunting- knife, probably for use in close fight; and, in 
addition to this, a " snickasnee," about eighteen inches long, 
shut lip in its sheath. The belt had, moreover, to support a 
dagger; and two double-barrelled pistols occupied the fore- 
ground. Besides all this, a fowling-piece of enormous dimen- 
sions hung over his shoulder. 

The man's face, however, could not be pronounced in keeping 
"with, this tremendous demonstration of warlike ferocity. He had 
jolly red cheeks, and his good-humoured blue eyes glanced round 
with a look of jovial surprise. Perhaps he had made up his 
mind to fight his way ashore, inch by inch, at the sword's point, 
and was wondering that no one made the least hostile demon- 
stration against him. 

His appearance became positively ludicrous by contrast with 
his followers, whom he had selected, perhaps on purpose, from 
the smallest race of men. The four mannikins, who marched after 
him, and who certainly did not come up to the lowest military 
standard, had clothed themselves, and cultivated beards, in imita- 
tion of their leader, but of course on a reduced scale ; nor did 
they wear broadswords, for their armament began with the 
hunting-knife, which certainly was better in accordance with 
their stature. They were, however, amply provided with pistols 
and daggers ; and they dragged behind them a handcart, the 
depository of their baggage. At least, it contained one large 
chest and four little ones, fi.anked by a goodly collection of 
spadesj crowbars, pickaxes, tin pans, cooking utensils, and um- 
brellas ; and the four little giants, two of them dragging the 
hand-cart, and two marching beside it with shouldered muskets 
as a guard, marched respectfully behind the big giant, prepared 
to follow whithersoever he should lead. 

There was no mistaking that they were Germans — the cotton 
umbrellas were alone conclusive evidence on that point, even if 
every feature of their faces and. every thread of their garments 
had not borne out the asssertion — as, gravely and silently, 
without heeding any one, they marched across the Plaza, and 
disappeared down a by-street that led towards the west. 

Just as they vanished from view, Mr. Hufner came pelting 
back, covered with perspiration, and looking anxiously round for 
the elegant figure of Ballenstedt. But that worthy was nowhere 
to be found ; and in reply to Hufner's inquiries, made of passers- 
by in very indifferent English, the anxious goidseeker was sent 
after the little armed troop. 



THE PLAZA OP SAN THANCISCO. 



51 



Hufner soon found out that he had been misinfornied. There 
was no chance of finding out Ballenstedt in the turmoil of men 
in the streets, and the Germans whom he questioned could not 
direct him. 

The loss, however, was not irreparable ; and Hufner thought 
he should greatly improve his chances if he could obtain admit- 
tance into the warlike band. One advantage was certain : he 
would be enabled to deposit his heavy bundle, which had already 
made him perspire profusely, on the handcart with the general 
luggage. So he turned at once to the leader of the troop, 
and said : — 

Listen, countrymen ! I have just missed my comrade, with 
whom I was to have gone to the mines; but if you have no 
objection, I will join you, and we can work * up yonder ' in 
company." 

" And where are your arms ? " asked the giant^ who, to 
Hufner's great astonishment, proved to have quite a thin, high- 
pitched voice. 

" My arms ! " cried Hufner, somewhat taken aback. " I haven't 
any arms at all, except my bread-knife, and this little pistol here: 
and that is not loaded, for I'm afraid it might go off of itself, one 
day, in my pocket. In Bremen, a misfortune of that kind hap- 
pened not long ago." 

No arms ! " exclaimed the giant, turning full upon him, in 
his astonishment ; " and how do you intend to defend yourself ? " 

" Why " — stammered Mr. Hufner — " is it — is it so very dan- 
gerous up yonder in the mines ? I thought " 

"Dangerous ! " repeated the giant, with a compassionate shrug 
of the shoulders at his questioner's ignorance. "Just look at 
Do you think we should turn out armed to the teeth if it 
were not dangerous ? " 

"But Ballenstedt had nothing with him but his spade, except 
Ms umbrella," urged the startled Hufner. 

"Poor man!" exclaimed the giant compassionately; "who 
knows under what tree his bones may be lying before many days 
are over ? We intend to intrench ourselves every evening. In a 
few hours, we five will be able to throw up a very good rampart 
of earth, and we shall increase our garrison by a reinforcement ; 
but we must have well-armed men. You can't defend yourself 
with that umbrella ; and your pistol is insufficient. Under these 
circumstances, therefore, I regret to say, I cannot enrol yoa 
among my little band : it is against our statutes." 

" But all alone, I cannot " 

" Yery sorry," interrupted the giant, " but here, in California^ 
E 2 



THE PLAZA OF SAN FEANCISCO. 



every man must take care of himself. AttentioD, gentlemen — 
keep your ranks — quick md^xok—fonvard ! " and waving his left 
hand to Hufner in a friendly and gracious manner, he turned on 
his heel, placed himself at the head of his troop, and in the next 
minute leader and followers were pursuing their way. 

Mr. Hufner remained for a time standing, in doubtful mood, 
where they had left him, and for a moment had the idea of 
following the troop at a little distance, so as at least to have the 
advantage of their neighbourhood. But his natural modesty 
recoiled from the idea of appearing troublesome ; and at last, 
after a great many people had run against him, he turned and 
went back to his quarters. If affairs stood thus, it was mani- 
festly foolhardy to venture alone to the mines ; and nothing 
remained for it but to purchase arms, and to wait for some new 
party to which he could attach himself with safety. 

The sun was declining more and more towards the west ; its 
red orb had already sunk behind the ridge of mountains on the 
coast ; but the bustle in the streets never ceased for a moment. 
The stream of human life surged to and fro; and heavily4adeii 
carts came in an unbroken line from the bay to deliver passengers' 
goods in the different boarding-houses, or rather boarding-tents. 

The arrivals were at this time particularly 'numerous ; for the 
fust glowing accounts of the discovery and wealth of the gold- 
fields had produced their effect upon the outer world ; and ad- 
venturers came thronging from all parts of the globe, to seize 
their share of a treasure, great in itself, and magnified a hun- 
dredfold in imagination. Eor ten or twelve ships to arrive in 
one day was quite a common occurrence ; and when a contrary 
wind had prevented the ships from running in, their number had 
frequently risen to above twenty by the time the favourable breeze 
came. 

The great majority of passengers on board these ships looked 
on San Francisco simply as their first landing-place, in which 
they would not remain long. The mountains were the goal of 
their journey, which was to be reached as fast as possible ; and 
many would not even have slept in a boarding-house, of whose 
high prices they were justly afraid, the first night of their land- 
ing, if their luggage had not compelled them to seek some place 
of safety. What were they to do with it ? — they could not drag 
their chests and boxes up into the mines ; and thus it became 
absolutely necessary to look out for a shelter of some kind. 

Thus most of the passengers from the Leoutine had been run- 
ning about all the afternoon, trying, but unsuccessfully, to 
find secure warehouse-room for their luggage. Boarding-house 



THE PLAZA OF SAK TllAKCISCO. 



: keepers "^ere ready to take charge of the boxes and bales ; but 
I thej would not be answerable for them, or even afford them 
more shelter against the rain than the doubtful canvass covering 
of a tent could oifer. Warehouse-room was, nevertheless, paid 
for at the rate of a dollar a month for a box, and two dollars, for 
a chest. 

It could not be helped, however ; and people who had torn 
themselves from friends and relations thousands of miles away, 
were not to be detained here for the sake of a box or a chest. 
Therefore, the different articles of luggage were deposited in any 
wooden or canvass outhouse that could be spared to receive 
them ; the host made out a bill stating that he had received so 
i and so many articles — for which he did not consider himself 
responsible,'' — and away went the gold-seekers, without even a 
farewell to their property ; and yet how few w^ere the cases in 
which they saw it again ! 

"Away to the mines! " was the universal cry; and the few 
' papers established at that time in San Erancisco increased the 
excitement by new accounts, each more marvellous than the last, 
of newly-discovered treasure. Every hour the gold-washers had 
to spend in the tov;n they considered as an hour lost ; and in 
restless impatience they wandered through the streets, as though, 
they could cheat time itself by keeping continually on the 
move. 

Just these thousands, who thus strolled in idleness through 
San Erancisco, and were replaced next day by other new arrivals, 
w^ere the customers who filled the gambling-rooms, of which the 
town contained an enormous number. Eirstly, the visitors could 
best pass away their time in these establishments, which were 
the only places where acquaintances could meet ; and, secondlj^, 
the gambling-room was a sort of heginning of the gold-land — a 
touchstone, by which each man might augur of his future fortune 
in the mines. " One must open the door to fortune," was the cry 
of the hour, "and give her an opportunity to come in and thus 
it happened that nearly every man sacrificed ten, fifteen, or more 
dollars on the green tables. 

That the men who kept those tables played falsely they never 
suspected. The people looked so honest, the play itself went on 
so regularly, that cheating seemed almost impossible ; and yet 
their money vanished. "Luck w^as against us," the losers 
would say, to console themselves ; and well it was for them if, 
satisfied with their first experiences, they gave up the green 
tables. 



iJf EVENING IN SAN TEANCISCO. 



CHAPTER Y. 

AN E'^^NING IN SAN PE.ANCISCO. 

Night came on; and as in those latitudes darkness comes 
tipon the earth almost suddenly, so in San Prancisco it put an end 
at once to the busy turmoil of the crowd. The carts and waggons 
Tanished. The bearers of burdens, who had been panting through, 
the streets, often groaning under the weight of their own lug; 
gage, disposed of their goods in the best way they could ; an 
the gambling-rooms of the Plaza sent forth gleams of bright 
light through the open doors, across the square. These esta- 
blishments lured many more customers now than in the daytime 
when most people had some occupation or other. Now eve" 
one was free, and streams of men poured into the entrances o 
open tents and houses. 

Again the violins were scraped on the orchestra, the trumpet 
brayed, and the drums thundered ; and through the wide hall 
thronged with men, arose the deep murmur of the crowd, ran 
the jingle of coins rapidly changing hands, and now and the 
rose the joyful shout of a lucky gamester, or the blasphemou 
oath of a poor wretch who lost. At times was heard the poppin 
of champagne bottles ; for gold lightly w^on was as lightly spent 
and then the clink of glasses ringing together : but that did no 
interrupt the main business of the evening ; and to the old pro 
fessed players it was a joyful sound. The people who squandere 
their money at the bar thought they had won it ; and yet, a 
best, they had but borrowed it ; and an hour later, when th 
fiery wine got into their heads, they were sure to bring it bac 
to the bank, and generally with heavy interest. 

Through the midst of these tables, neither casting a glance O" 
the players or on the room itself, a man elbowed his way, an 
the haste with which he walked made him conspicuous in a plac 
"where no one was in a hurry. The company had come in to pas 
the evening, and slowly, step by step, stopping every moment a 
one place or another, the crowd waved to and fro in the hall 
Any one who wished to advance quicker than the rest, of cours 
disturbed the economy of the whole machine. 



AS EVEUIJIG IN SAM PEANCISCO. 03 

« HaUo ! " erumbled a man, in a blue blouse, ^ybom the lum-ied 
-visitor had pushed aside somewhat roughly-andhe looked round 
more surpied than angry,-" yon'U get nd of y.™"^'^;* 
enoHgh in this confounded hole; you neean t be m such a hurry 
about it. How the fool runs ! " 

"I fancy he's been to get a fresh supply," laughed ano her- 
a fellow who looked much more like a pickpocket than an honeso 
man. "When be comes back he wont waik so fast, ne s 

Then the sooner they pluck him the better,'' said the man 
in the blouse ; and he turned again to one of the tables, to watcli 

'"The"stranger seemed not to hear these observations, or, if he 
did, he took no notice of them ; for he contmuea to press forward 
and his eyes, wandering uneasily through the rooai, seemed to be 
searching for some one. . i if i „f „„ij " 

"Here, sir— here's the place to win a pocketful of gold, ^ t^o 
or three voices cried out to him, as he passed the tables o. dis- 
engaged players ; but he never paused till he saw the man he 
soSght, leaing against a pillar. He made rapidly towards him, 
and°touched him on the shoulder. ^ ^ _ 

" Siftlv," he cried, " I have found mm. 

"Hallo, Hetson," answered the American, turmng slowly 
ix)wards Mm. " Why, man, what is the matter with you lou 
look as pale as death." , „„„„r- 

" He is here," was the only reply he received ; and the young 
man turned hastily and nervously round, as if he feared tnat some 
apparition stood beside him. , , , , 

" He I Who ? " quietly inquired his friena, who had otlier 
matters 'in his head, and had quite forgotten Hetson's commu- 

Charles Golway," whispered Hetson in his ear and looked 
at him with a glance as if he expected the other to doom him to 
instant death. ^ . 

"Charles Golway?'^ repeated the American, m surprise. 
"Aha! I understand— the former lover?" . 

" Bush, for Heaven's sake 1 " implored Hetson, pressing his 

^""^^ NmisSse-don't be foolish/' laughed Siftly "Who knows 
the lad, here, or your freaks of fancy either? or if any one 
knew them, who would care about them ? Come, let him be 
wherever he likes to go, and try your luck again. /^^^ f me 
here has woful ill luck to-night, and I think you could not lia^e 
chosen a better time to take your revenge for this aUernoon. 



56 



AN EYEXIXG IX SAI\ IT.AXCISCO. 



" Eor pity's sake, spare me with your gambling/' cried Hetson, 
grasping his arm all the nrmer. What ai-ii I to do ? Give me 
your advice." 

" If I give it to you, you will be sure not to follow it." 
Try me." 

"Well, and it's the last word I have to say in the whole tire- 
some affair : let him alone, and trouble yourself no more about 
Charley Golway at San Erancisco or in California, than if Charley 
Golway w^ere in the moon." 

" You don't know " 

" I know enough to make me beg you, very seriously, to get 
rid of all your foolish fancies. If he comes in your way, and 
you notice that he wants to renew his acquaintance with your 
wife, take out your pistol and shoot him. Why does the fool 
come running after another man's wife ? But if he has only 
come here by accident " 

''By accident!" repeated Hetson, bitterly. '-'He followed 
us direct from Valparaiso." 

"Prom Valparaiso? I thought you had put him off, on a 
Australian scent." 

"He must certainly have found out the truth," groaned poo 
Hetson, "and this haste confuTDS my worst suspicions. Th 
ship in which he arrived left Valparaiso three days later tha 
ours, but arrived here two days before us — ^the day befor 
yesterday." 

"His ship must have been a better sailer than yours," ob 
served Siftly ; " but we are wasting valuable time here wit 
arrant nonsense. Will you play ? " 

"Let me alone, with your play," said Hetson again. " 
never liked it, and am certainly not now in the humour to begin 
You'd better help me to find out Golway in this crowded city." 

"What a fool I should be," _ laughed Siftly. "Ifyouhav 
nothing better to do with your time, no one has anything to sa 
about it ; but I can employ mine more profitably." 

So saying, he turned his back upon his friend, and wen 
to another of the tables, while Hetson, left to himself, 
remained standing alone. But he could not be easy for a 
instant, and, with a nervous glance at the groups around him, h 
pushed bis way tovrards the door at the back of the room, t 
visit his wife in the upper part of the house. 

He found her sitting on the bed in the room, in the dark, wit 
folded hands. Did she, perhaps, know that her former lover hac 
arrived ? Had he, perhaps, already seen her — spoken to her 
Hetson dared not pursue the refiection, and, with a short " Good 



A>: E'N'EIvING IX SAX FEANCISCO. 



evening," lie walked to the window, and stood looking down upon 
the dark square. 

"Hetson/' said liis wife, in a low voice, "is anything the 
matter P 

" With me ?— no. Why do you ask ? " 
" You are so silent. Has anything unpleasant happened to 
you?" 

"Nothing that I know of," answered Hetson, whose heart 
was full, almost to bursting : " but you are still m the dark> 
Have you been sitting alone all this time ? " 

" Our doctor from on board, dear old Dr. Eascher, sat with me 
for a short time this afternoon," said the lady, as she stepped to 
the table, and lit a candle that stood there. " I am glad he i& 
staying in the house. Here, in this strange wild country, a friend 
is doubly valuable." 

"You don't feel comfortable here?" 

" Comfortable ! " repeated the wife, with a melancholy smile, as 
she looked round the small room, in which the luggage still lay 
about in disorder. There was not a single piece of furniture 
beyond what v/as absolutely indispensable. A great bed, a table, 
and a couple of chairs formed all the contents of the apartment ; 
and the furniture, such as it was, consisted of planks roughly 
put together, and scarcely planed smooth. The walls were 
innocent of paper ; not even the window-frames had been painted, 
and floor, walls, and ceiling presented one uniform surface of 
naked nrwood, to which the mahogany of the table, and the 
cherry-wood of the- two chairs formed a very unpleasing con- 
trast. "How can one feel at home here, Erank?" said the poor 
wife. "And then the unceasing disturbance, the wild uproar^ 
the continual slamming of doors, with which the whole house 
trembles, and the window-panes clatter, the running to and fro 
of people in the passages, as if a misfortune had happened or 
were about to happen, and kept them in a continual state of 
excitement. Oh ! Trank, I wish we had not come to California." 

Her husband answered not a word. He had come forward to 
the table, and covered his forehead with his hand. When his 
wife stepped up to him, she at once remarked the pallor that had 
overspread his features, and seizing his arm in sudden alarm 
she hastily cried : " Eor Heaven's sake, Erank, what has hap- 
pened ? You are ill ; your face is as pale as death !" 

"Nothing, my love," answered her husband, in a faint voice. 
" I am unwell from running about all these hours. But you are 
right. A residence in this confined, uncomfortable room cannot 
be agreeable ; in fact, it must be insupportable to you ; it is 



58 a:n evening in san prancisco. 



worse than tlie life we led on board ; and yet this is the largest 
and most habitable building in the whole place. The sooner, 
therefore, we quit San Francisco the better, and I will make 
arrangements for our departure to-morrow." 

The poor wife had scarcely listened to what he said, for she 
kept her eyes fixed on the disordered features of Hetson, who 
could not keep his excitement from his wife's observation. 

" Tell me what has annoyed you, Frank," she said, coaxingly, 
coming close up to him. " Something has gone wrong with you, 
deny it as you will; I can see it in your whole manner, and in 
the way you tremble. Confide in me, I conjure you, by the love 
I bear you, — and do not leave me, in this cheerless place, with, 
the fear that I have lost your confidence." 

Hetson took his hand slowly from before his face, and looked 
for a moment sharply and inquiringly into his wife's eyes. But 
those eyes looked at liim in return with such trusting innocence 
that he felt she cotdd not deceive him ; nor yet, at least, know 
of her lover's proximity. Would it be better for him to tell her 
at once of Golway's arrival ? Might they not yet escape him, 
if they betook themselves to the mountains before he came upon 
their track ? 

Frank," cried his wife again, what ails you ? — what moves 
you ? Are they those old dreams and cares that disturb your 
peace ? Have I not done everything in my power to prove to 
you that the past is dead to me, and that I belong to you alone 
—can only belong to you ? Have I not followed you into this 
distant land, and can you ask a stronger proof of my love ?" 

*^ Distant !" muttered Hetson gloomily, — ''not distant enough 
to prevent that wretch from finding his way here !" 

"Do not believe it, Frank," urged his wife in a consoling 
voice. "From the knowledge I have of Charles, I feel convinced 
that he will abandon every attempt to see me, as soon as he 
hears that I am the wife of another." 

" Charles !" muttered Hetson, between his clenched teeth. 

" Does the name disturb you, Frank?" said the young wife, 
leaning her head coaxingly on her husband's shoulder. " Con- 
sider, I knew him by that name so long, that his other name has 
become almost strange to me. But I will avoid it, and God 
grant that Mr. Golway need never more be mentioned between 
us." 

" I believe you — believe you," whispered the husband, with 
emotion; "but he will take care to prevent that ; you give him 
credit for too much greatness of soul — too much self-denial." 

" No, Frank, certainly not," replied she, in a decided tone. 



AN EYENI^TG IN SAN PEANCISCO. 



59 



If yon will only divest yourself of tbese melanclioly, unhappy 
ideas, you would become merry and cheerful again. 'No man 
has ever more needlessly embittered his own existence than you 
Iiave done, and " 

" ]\' eedlesslj ! " interrupted Hetson, springing up with a 
quick, angry start. " iSleedlessly, yon say. Do you think the 
phantom that has haunted me through our whole long journey 
exists only in my imagination — my morbid,, overstrained fancy, 
as you would always make me believe ? He is here 

" Who, Frank ?— for God's sake, who ?" asked the wife, turning 
pale as death. 

" Who ! — Your Charles, if you really know nothing of his 
arrival. He has followed you — and for what reason I should 
like to know, if not to win you from me ! " 

It is not possible," gasped she, stepping back in terror. 

" Not possible ? " repeated Hetson, with clenched teeth ; " and 
yet I can tell you the name of the ship in which he started from 
Valparaiso, in pursuit of us, three days after we had left. He 
did not even allow hitnself time to rest, in Chili, from his long 
voyage, but seized the first opportunity that offered for carrying 
out his plans.'' 

For a moment, Mrs. Hetson could make no reply, but sat still, 
with her face hidden in her hands. It was only for a moment, 
however; then she rose quickly, and cried, — 

" And if he were here, Frank, have you so little confidence in 
your wife, that you are alarmed and disquieted ? 

" He was ^owx first love," whispered Hetson, hoarsely. " But 
a few hours sooner, and he would have found you free — free to 
give your hand to the man towards whom your heart drew 
you. I was only in a manner forced upon you — married to you 
through a chance. I know that I possess you as something 
that does not belong to me, and that I have not the resolution 
to give up." 

He was quite beside himself; and, in the agony of grief that 
tore his heart, he threw himself on the bed and buried his face in 
the pillow. 

His wife had remained rigid and motionless where she stood, 
looking steadfastly at him. Perhaps the images passed before her 
mind's eye of days she had violently striven to forget, and which 
her husband, with foolish vehemence, unburied from the dead 
past. 

Yes, she had loved that friend of her early girlhood — had loved 
him with all the strength of her warm young heart; and that 
first moment in which she had heard that he was still alive— that 



60 



AJv EYEXIKG m SAX PllA^s'CISCO. 



he had not been lost to lier, but that the words she had spoken 
at the altar had severed her from him for ever, stood with terri- 
ble distinctness before her soul. But Hetson was her husband — 
of her own free will she had given him her hand — she knew with 
what true honest depth he loved her ; and pressing her hand upon 
her heart, she crushed down the last rebellious feeling which had 
stood, like a spectre, between him and herself. 

Softly, as though she feared the sound of her own footsteps, 
she glided to the bed on which he sat despairing; softly she put 
her arms round his neck, and murmured, — 

" Prank ! 

He made no answer, but his whole frame shook with convulsive 
violence. 

" Frank ! " she repeated ; and the word fell like a zephyr on hi& 
ear, but re-echoed through the depths of his inmost soul. " Frank, 
be a man ! If even my heart was given to my first love — if, in 
my youtliful dreams, I pictured my Kfe's happiness awaiting me 
at his side, all that is past and gone. I am your toife^ and by all 
that you and I hold sacred, I swear to you that no other feeling 
now fills my breast but the hope of seeing you restored to life 
and your love restored to me. What has been, is no more. 
Since the hour when I became yours, a new existence began 
forme; and, as I have taken your name upon me, so will I 
preserve your love for erer and ever. Do you believe me 
now ?" " 

"Jenny, my own sweet, dear Jenny!" murmured Hetson, 
folding his arms round her. 

" See how good it is that you have at last spoken openly with 
me," she continued. "That hidden grief would have torn your 
heart with a terrible secret power, and I should not have been 
able to remove it. Now you have relieved your mind of the 
weight that pressed upon it, I can speak openly to you ; we 
understand each other, and all — all wall be well now." 

" And that — Charles ? " whispered Hetson in a hesitating 
voice, as if afraid to utter the word. 

" If he should really meet us, he will respect the position ia 
which he finds me — he must respect it, or he would be unworthy 
of a shadow of the feeling with which I once regarded hims Are 
you satisfied now ? " 

His arm was thrown lovingly round her; and as she bent over 
him, and her lips touched his forehead, the dull pain in his heart 
dissolved into hot tears. He wept — wept as a child weeps ; and 
his wife leant over him, supporting his aching head in her 
hands. 



AN EVEIs^IKG IN SAN FEANCISCO. 



61 



In the bail below, the drums were beating and the trumpets 
hraying, while the gamblers clustei'ed round the tables. 

It was a wild restless movement, quite in keeping with the 
life that the people were compelled to lead in El Dorado. 
Who, among all the crowd, had a liome in Cahrornia ? "Who had 
a wife or children awaiting him, at his own hearthstone, in all 
the city ? — jSlot one, of all the thousands who wandered np and 
<lown in the gaming-houses, trying iheir " luck " at one or other 
of the tables. 

A scanty mattress in the corner of some tent was their couch 
for the night; that uninviting place of rest would be reached 
soon enough, even if they did not seek it till dawn of day, while 
here there was light, and life, and, above all, the sound of gold, 
to malce them forget, at least for a time, every discomfort and 
privation. Every open door showed where pastime and excite- 
ment might be had, aud glittering bottles of spirituous drink 
lured them to additional enjoyment. In the great rooms, the 
mnsic played the tunes they had heard at home; the golden 
<3oins clinked and jingled invitingly, and the voluptuous paintings 
shone in a glare of blazing hght ; why should thej abandon 
themselves to careful thought, or lie brooding in melancholy 
foreboding on the damp ground? So in they crowded at the 
open doors, and the next morning, perhaps, found them with 
€mpty pockets and aching heads, waking from the dream of 
drunken folly. But then, nobody thought of the next morning. 

Here rolled the dice, rattled the rouge-et-noir ^ and fluttered the 
cards through the practised and only too nimble fingers of the 
professed gamesters ; and glazed eyes stared in greedy expecta- 
tion on the variegated leaves of the fateful packs. 

In the midst of the hall, bending over a table, might be 
noticed a picturesque and remarkable figure — an old man with 
such expressive features that no one who had once looked upon 
them could fail to recognize him at a second meeting. That 
Spanish, perhaps noble, blood ran in his veins, was evident— for 
the stamp of nobility was on the high broad forehead, and in the 
aquiline nose ; and the eye of raven blackness flashed with all the 
fire of twenty summers, though the man was, from his appear- 
ance, about fifty years old. A thick black moustache, with a 
gray hair appearing here and there, shaded his upper lip; and he 
wore over his other clothes a Mexican cloak, of beautiful colour, 
interwoven with gold threads. He was pressing his soft hat of 
black felt nervously together in his right hand, as he leant over 
the table, watching the game on which he had staked his gold. 

"Lost, senor," said one of the players, laughing, as he laid 



62 



AN EVENING IN SAN ESANCISGO. 



Ms hand on a little heap of gold- pieces, and added them to the 
heaps of coin and gold-dust in the middle of the table ; " the 
luck is decidedly against you again to-day, and you ought to give 
it up.'" 

" Caramba muttered the Spaniard, between his set teeth, ^^I 
think I know the best when I am to leave off. Three more half- 
eagles on the five !" 

His English sounded imperfect, and he hissed out the words 
rather than spoke them. 

"Lost!" was repeated, in the same tone as before. "Any 
more ?" 

"Two more half-eagles again upon the five ?" 
. • "Lost! Anymore?" 

The Spaniard made no reply, but stared wildly at the faithless 
cards. 

" That was the last money I have to-night," he whispered, at 
length ; "but to-morrow my daughter yAII be paid her salary." 

"Yery sorry, seiior," said the gambler, with a shrug; "but 
ours is a ready-money business, and we never ask any one to lend 
to us. Stake your ring there, and name your price. It's a pretty 
bauble." 

" That ring ? — no ! " cried the man, half frightened ; and he 
drew back a step from the table. 

The gambler shrugged his shoulders again; and others, who 
had long been waiting for a chance of coming to the table, 
crowded up, and pushed the old Spaniard aside unceremoniously 
enough. He had no more money ; then what right had he to be 
stopping the way ?" 

On the orchestra, where the musicians were, as usual, tortur- 
ing their instruments most execrably in the execution of marches 
and dance-tunes — being, in fact, kept together only by the heavy 
blows of the big drum, a slender female form, closely wrapped in 
a mantilla, leaned over the balustrade, and seemed to be watching, 
with fixed attention, the wicked, feverish activity below. 

The violinist, who sat next her, a young Frenchman, turned to 
her from time to time, and seemed anxious to talk ; but she either 
did not hear or did not heed what he said. On the contrary, she 
turned her face from him to hide the solitary tear that fell silently 
and unnoticed from her long, dark eyelashes. 

The music ceased, and the leader of the orchestra, a little fat 
man, evidently of Teutonic birth, who was all in a glow, from the 
sharp exercise of keeping such a collection of performers together, 
came to the girl, and said, in a low and almost a respectful 
tone, — 



AN EVE:N-i:irG IX SAin rKAXCISCO. 



63 



'^Senorita!^' 

She did not answer — slie did not stir — slie continued gazing 
fixedly and mournfully on the form of her father below. 

" Senorita ! " repeated the little man, louder than before^ " the 
music has left off, and your turn for playing has come. Might I 
beg you " ^ 

Yes, yes, sir," answered the girl, rising with an effort, and ; 
throwing back her mantilla with such art that she contrived, in 
turning round, to wipe away, unobserved, a treacherous tear that 
trembled in her eye. Her features had regained their accustomed 
serenity ; and, stepping lightly to her music-desk, she took her 
instrument, tuned it, and began to play a soul-stirring melody. 

Eut what cared the people in the room below ! In the after- 
noon, some of them had listened — for the majority of visitors 
were Mexicans and Californians, who have always some appre- 
ciation of music. But now the hall was at least two-thirds full 
of drinking, card-playing Americans from the states, not one of 
whom cared to listen to the soft, thrilling notes. 

"Why has the music left off?" asked one man, a short, pale- 
faced fellow, with the ruins of a straw-hat crushed down on a 
shaggy head that had probably not felt the comb for months. 

" Some one up there is fiddling still," answered the player 
next him, without looking away for a moment from the cards. 

''Onljone/'^ repeated the little man, contemptuously ; " and 
all the other loafers are sitting doing nothing. What are the 
fellows hired for, I should like to know ?" 

His friend did not think it worth while to answer — he was 
better employed watching the cards. 

There was a rushing and murmuring in the hall, like ebb 
and flood, and the people crowded in and out at the wide door 
like bees in a beehive. And in another sense the parallel held 
good. Out in the mountains the people dug, and picked, and 
washed their honey laboriously together ; and then they brought 
it in here, and few, very few, carried it away again. The keepers 
of the play-tables locked it up in their cells, from whence it wa& 
extracted to be lost as lightly as it had been won. 

Hour after hour went by ; and though hundreds left the room 
— some to try their luck elsevvhere, others to throw themselves 
on their couches in some corner — the number was always made 
up by new arrivals of idlers in the Plaza^ — and the Parker House 
Saloon continued crowded till almost an hour after midnight. 
Then a decrease in the number of guests became observable, 
though the hall was still well filled ; and it was not till towards 
two o'clock that empty spaces appeared liere and there. But 



AN EVENING IN SAN PEANCISCO. 



round certain tables, where the play was particularly high, the 
people still thronged thickly ; while, scattered about the room, 
lounging on chairs, or stretched helplessly on the fioor, drunken 
guests were sleeping off the excitement of brandy and of 

Alone, beside a pillar, his head sunk on his breast, and his 
arms tightly folded beneath his cloak, stood the old Spaniard 
whom Ave have already noticed at the play-table. He almost 
seemed to sleep, he stood so motionless ; but the flashing of his 
eye, as it beamed forth from under his broad-brimmed hat, told a 
very different tale. 

A slender female form, draped in black, came gliding from the 
orchestra along the side of the room, seeking, with covered face, 
io avoid the men who lounged about ; but no one heeded her, for 
a quarrel at one of the tables had attracted the attention of all in 
the room. Unobserved by the guests, she went up to the man 
who leaned against the pillar, touched his shoulder, and 
whispered, — 

"l^^ather!" 

" Ha, Manuela ! " cried the Spaniard, waking as if from a 
dream, " are you here, my child ? You are not going to play any 
more to-day, are you 

"No, dear father,'' murmured the maiden, casting a timid 
glance around ; " but come — let us go away ; I long to escape 
from this horrible room ; and I am hungry." 

The Spaniard started as he heard the last words, and almost 
mechanically put his hand to his pocket. But an hour since he 
had searched it in vain to find a single gold piece there, and that 
not for his child : it would have been lost, like the rest, at the 
nearest play-table. 

The girl saw his agitation, and she turned deadly pale ; but, 
with astonishing presence of mind, she mastered her feelings, and 
whispered, — 

" You iiave not received my wages for this evening yet ; but 
never mind — the proprietor of the saloon is sitting yonder : 
you know he pays punctually." 

Her father did not speak, but passed his hand slowly over his 
\jlammy forehead. 

Come, father, come ! Time passes, and the ground here seems 
burning beneath my feet. Oh that we had never come to this 
unhappy country ! Let us fetch the money." 

Still the man stirred not ; but his wild glance, as he gazed 
round the room, seemed to be searching for some one to help 
them. Help from thence — the very thought was folly! He 



AN EVENING IN SAN FEANCISCO. 



65 



seemed to feel it, too ; for he made an effort to rouse himself, 
grasped his daughter's hand, and whispered,— 
"Come!" 

" Eut the money, father ?" 

" The hotel-keeper knows me," answered the Spaniard, in a 
husky voice ; " he will give us something to eat." 

*'He refused yesterday," answered the girl, in trembling, 
anxious haste. " You know he will give no one credit — not everi 
for an hour." 

" The waiter will give us credit," said the Spaniard ; and he 
tried to shake off his daughter's restraining hand. 

" father ! " she cried — and there was a world of sorrow in 
the few syllables — " you know he only does it on my account. 
Bring the money." 

"I have had it already," whispered the man, turning his 
head away with conscious shame. " I took it, and wanted to 
compel fortune to give us the means of releasing you from a 
position so unworthy of you ; but I failed. The treacherous 
cards were more unfavourable to me than ever, and I lost all." 

The girl answered not a word. She stood beside him with 
bended head and trembling limbs; and her breath came short 
and thick. 

"Do not disturb yourself, my child," urged the father, 
alarmed at her appearance ; " to-morrow must make every- 
thing right." 

" You are going to play again ?" asked the girl, with trembling 
eagerness. 

" Am I to leave those cheating Yankees in quiet possession of 
our money?" asked the old man, testily. 

"But you know they play false," urged Manuela. Oh, let 
them have what they have won, — let them have all, even the 
triumph of having cheated you ; but do not trust in treacherous 
fortune any more. Look, father — in a few weeks I shall earn as 
much as we want to take us away from this horrible country ; 
and then " 

"In a few weeks!" cried the Spaniard angrily; "and for 
weeks longer I am to expose you to what you have to en- 
counter here, when it is possible to set you free in one short 
hour?" 

"Eather!" 

" Hush, hush, my darling; you don't understand these things. 
Have I not provided for you till now ? So, only trust me, and 
I will do everything to restore you to the kind of life which you 
have been for'^a time compelled to forego. But now come with 

p 



66 



AN EVENING IN SAN FEANCISCO. 



me into the supper-room. Don Emilio knows that I am a man 
of my word, and will not refuse us a meal." 

" You are still in his debt for yesterday." 

"Eah! — a mere trifle! He shall have his money. But 
come — the people yonder are watching us." 

" Yes, I will go with you, my father," answered the girl, in a 
resolute tone ; " but I will not again become the debtor of that 
strange man, friendly and respectful as he has always been to us. 
I — I am not hungry this evening. It was only a pretext to 
draw you away from here. I am tired — my head burns — let me 
go to bed." 

But joii must be hungry," her father insisted. "You have 
taken nothing since this morning, except, perhaps, a glass of 
water." 

"Believe me, father," she answered, vehemently, "I could not 
swallow a morsel to-night ; I only want rest — sleep. Will you 
go with me 

" Come, then," said the old man ; and, throwing the end of 
his cloak over his shoulder, he went towards the back door, 
closely followed by his daughter. 

On their way they were obliged to pass various groups of 
players, several of whom accosted Manuela ; but she never once 
looked up. With her head bowed, and her face covered up to 
the eyes with her mantilla, she glided past them, and soon dis- 
appeared, with her father, in the narrow passage leading to the 
upper part of the house. 

In the mean time the gambling guests of " Parker House " 
continued to disperse. Eour-fifths of the tables were without 
customers, and some of the card-players had already packed up 
their money and the implements of their trade to seek their 
resting-places for the night. Even the orchestra was deserted ; 
the servants of the house were going to and fro putting out the 
superfluous lamps, and only here and there stood a little group, 
with sleepy eyes, staking their money on the cards as they were 
carelessly turned up. 

The players themselves had lost their interest in their occupa- 
tion ; for, whereas the game had been all the evening for hun- 
dreds of dollars each time, the few coins now staked did not 
excite them sufficiently to keep sleep from their eyes. 

Wrapping themselves in their serapes, or Californian 
ponchos, and firmly grasping their heavy bags of money, the 
holders of the various tables left the hall, with a short " good 
night, seiiores," to the company. A few, on the other hand, 
packed up their bank in a chest under the table, wrapped them- 



AN EVENING IN SAN PS..ANCISCO. 



67 



selves in their blankets, and stretched themselves each on a 
couple of chairs, to finish the night. They were as comfortable 
here as in a tent — and safer. 

The last guests had now left the room ; nearly all the lights 
were extinguished, and only two lamps, always left burning 
through the whole night, glimmered faintly in the deserted, 
dreary hail. 

Erom the various comers the movements of the sleepers were 
heard. Three men only remained awake in the room ; they sat 
together at a table near the centre. Even they were not play- 
ing any longer. Two of them were packing up the bank, while 
the third, our old acquaintance Siftly, sat astride across a 
chair, with Ihs elbows leaning on the back, watching his two 
companions. 

"A precious bad business you've made of it to-night,^' he 
observed, shaking his head gloomily, after a cursory glance at 
the sum-total on the table. "You've hardly made more than 
the hire of the table. Why did you let that confounded fellow 
in the tattered poncho, and with the bag of gold, go away un- 
plucked? You riiiist have known. Brown, that the eight lay at 
the top. I saw it from here." 

" And so did I," grumbled Brown — the small man with the 
formidable shirt-collar. " I knew it well enough ; but the dirty 
vagabond knew it as well as I did, and he kept his cat's eyes on 
my fingers in such a fashion that I didn't dare to risk anything. 
You wouldn't like it yourself, that our table should get a bad 
name." 

" Was nothing more to be done with the stranger you brought 
us in the afternoon ? " asked Smith, the long man. 

"Nothing," answered Siftly, moodily. "He won't play any 
more ; and, besides, he' s an old friend of mine, with whom I 
didn't want to be too hard." 

"A friend!" repeated Smith, with sovereign contempt — and 
he took up a pack of cards, and began mechanically to shuffle 
them — "what are friends to us here in California? If my 
brother were to come over, and were green, he'd have to keep 
his eyes open, and look out for himself." 

" I'm goin,^ to bed," said Brown, rising with some difficulty 
from his chair, and throwing over his shoulders an old cloth 
cloak that lay behind him. "Will you come too, Siftly? It's 
Smith's turn to watch to-night." 

"I've nothing more to keep me here either," said Siftly; 
"but you live down by the water, and I am going to sleep 
up in the town to-night. They gave me notice to quit 

F 2 



68 



AN EVENING IN SAN 3?RANCISC0. 



this morning, and I must look out for fresh quarters to- 
morrow/' 

" Indeed ! Then that's another thing," replied the little fat 
man. " Good night to you. I suppose I needn't be here again 
before ten o'clock to-morrow morning ?" 

" Hardly/' answered Siftly ; " the early bird doesn't pick up 
many worms here. Good night." 

Smith said nothing at all, but only nodded as his little cor- 
pulent partner left the hall. He continued to shuffle the cards ; 
and for a time he and Siftly sat silently looking at each other. 

At last the latter broke out. — " That fellow grows more clumsy 
every day," he exclaimed, pettishly, but in a suppressed voice, 
and witii a glance over his shoulder to see that they were 
alone. 

" That's true enough," acquiesced Mr. Smith, thoughtfully 
cutting the cards, and pausing for a moment, as if he expected 
some one to stake. " I wish we could get rid of him genteelly — 
if we could only do without his share of the money." 

Siftly did not reply ; and again the two sat silent for a time, 
each occupied with his own thoughts. 

" Suppose a fire were to break out in this cursed canvass-built 
place," said Siftly suddenly, but in a much lower tone than he 
had spoken in before ; " I think the whole Plaza would be in 
flames in ten minutes." 

Smith shot a quick, inquiring glance at the speaker; but the 
look was not met by Siftly, who seemed absorbed in the con- 
templation of the cards on the table. 

A fire !" repeated the long man, apprehensively. 

" Hush ! — not so loud !" whispered he of the beard. " The word 
has a strange kind of sound, and seems to echo through the fur- 
thest corners of a room. It is, somehow, as if one felt the sound ; 
and that chap opposite has left off snoring, I declare." 

"Bah! — he sleeps as soundly as ever," said Smith, after 
an inquiring look at the background. " He has only turned over 
on the other side. Hum ! — a fire would certainly be a novelty 
for which no one is exactly prepared. What should we do, for 
instance, if a fire were to break out here in the night — in this 
very night?" 

"Why, I don't quite know," was Siftly's whispered reply. 
" In the first place, we should try to save the gold ; a con- 
foundedly difficult thing, by the way. If a fire broke out here, 
every one would but just have time to save the bare life ; and 
before Brown could get from the seaside, here " 

"Poor Brown !" said the long man, with a snufile of sympathy. 



AN EVENI^TG IN SAN FEANCISCO. 



69 



but without moying a muscle of Lis face, " he'd lose everything 
he's got.'' 

" And our neighbour^ here, whose box of gold has been left in 
-our charge," grinned Siftly ; — " it's a foolish thing, by the way, 
for a man to do, to leave his money in that manner." 

" You mean Otten, the German ?" said Smith. " Yes ; and 
he is a good, honest fellow, who has earned his money hardly 
enough. Of course, I should do all I could to secure it for him. 
Eut one's own life comes first, naturally." 

Again, Siftly sat silent, looking straight before him ; at last 
he whispered, — 

" Where should we two find each other, again ?" 

"We two ?" asked Smith, with a look of astonishment. 
"Why here — where else should we go? We don't want to 
excite unjust suspicions against ourselves, I hope. I should save 
everything I could — to the very last moment." 

The two worthy friends exchanged one glance — only one — ^bufe 
they understood each other thoroughly. 

" And would you, a few days after the fire, prefer remaining 
in San Erancisco, or try your luck up in the mines, yonder ?" 
asked Siftly. " It is not at all an uncommon thing, that a lucky 
digger should get a fortune there in a few days." 

" So I have heard ; and in such a case, I'd try my fortune with 
pick and spade, if I got ever so little for my pains." 

" And in what mines ?" 

" The papers are full of the Yuba diggings, which, they say, 
are particularly good," answered the long worthy. 

" They call them the rich ones, all about here." 

" Hum ! — perhaps I might go to the same place," said Siftly, 
" and I should be exceedingly glad to meet with an old acquaint- 
ance, like yourself, in Yuba city. Besides, one digger alone can 
do no good for himself. It wants two to manage the cradle 
properly." 

" And — do you really feel afraid that there may be a fire in 
San Prancisco ?" asked Smith, after a short pause. 

" One must be prepared for everything," answered he of the 
beard, cautiously. " Do you know that Potter's wooden house, 
just by the corner here, is still empty, and no one is to go to 
live there till the day after to-morrow ? The whole house is 
full of wooden shavings and laths. Yfhen I went by, this 
evening after dark, a light was burning inside." 

" A light ! then some one does live there ?" 

" No ; it was only the proprietor, giving a look over his place, 
I was in there a minute, and looked to the windows." 



70 



AN EYB:sI1;G IX SAN PSANCISCO, 



" I hope you locked them well." 

" Of course I did. You see, a draught would be very dan- 
gerous, if a fire were to break out there. Besides, the wind is 
blowing this evening from there right over here, and the tarry 
tent -roofs between it and us would set the Parker House in a 
blaze in five minutes. It would be a terrible business." 

The long man looked at his watch. It was half-past two. 

" The morning will dawn before very long," he said. " Sup- 
pose we £?o and lie down a little." 

" Yes,^ril go to bed too," said Siftly. 

" Up yonder, in the town ?" 

" No ; Tve altered my mind. I shall quarter myself here, 
with you, for the night ; but I'll take a turn first, to look at the 
weather. I shall be back directly." 

"Be careful," whispered Smith, with a scared face. "There 
are — all sorts of queer characters prowling about the streets." 

" Don't fear for me," answered Siftly ; " I'm known here.'^ 
And throwing his poncho over one of the chairs, he slowly left 
the hall, and strode out into the darkness, in the direction of the 
Plaza. 

Up in Pacific street stood a few houses, inhabited by Germans, 
if the wooden barns with canvass roofs can be dignified by such 
a title. To prevent all misconception on the subject, the pro- 
prietors of these elaborate establishments had affixed to each 
huge boards setting forth in the German and English languages, 
tliat one was the " Californian," and another the " El Dorado " 
hotel. 

One of these airily-built domiciles absolutely boasted a first- 
floor, which was reached by a perilous-looking staircase ; — and 
inch-thick deal boards formed at once the ceiling of the lower, 
and the fioor of the upper apartment. Its creaking, moreover, 
was a continual " caution," warning the fortunate inhabitants 
not to trust themselves upon it more than they could possibly 
help. 

The second " hotel " consisted of a single room — a compro- 
mise between tent and barn, with wooden bunks at the sides 
nailed one over the other, like in a ship's steerage. Other tents 
and wooden huts had been erected, some beside these larger 
buildings, and others behind them ; for as yet nothing like order 
was preserved in the laying out of the town. So long as the 
spaces marked out for streets were left open, the emigrants were 
at liberty to locate themselves wherever they liked, and wherever 
they could find room. How they afterwards mar aged to settle 
matters with the proprietors of the ground, was their own affair. 



-Al^ EVENING IN SAN PEANCISCO. 



71 



Attracted bj the German signs, several passengers from the 
Leontine had taken np their quarters in these two inviting hotels; 
among others, Lamberg, the Hamburgh merchant (?), Binderhof, 
and Ohlers the Apothecary. Mr. Hufner, too, had found his 
way back here, and Mrs. Siebert, with her three children, lodged 
in a little outhouse of the " California Hotel," with Assessor 
Mohler in the next bunk, for protection and safety. 

All these old companions had been quartered in different parts 
of the two houses, as well as it could be managed ; and after 
spending the evening roaming through the town and looking in 
at the different gambling-saloons, most of them had returned to 
their lodgings at about eleven o'clock, and laid themselves down 
in their respective cribs, — for on board they had been accustomed 
to go to bed early. 

At last all was quiet. Out in the street a step was sometimes 
heard, and in distant parts of the town shots were fired now and 
then ; but no one heeded these noises — no one cared about 
other people. The guests were far more interested in the con- 
duct of one of their number, who began snoring most dolefully. 
Here and there a muttered curse told of the sentiments this con- 
duct inspired in the neighbours ; but the offender, instead of 
holding his peace, lifted up his voice more tunefully than ever, 
until at last some one was heard to cry, — 

"Do give that horrible old drone a dig in the ribs. Confusion 
to the fellow, he has a voice like a blacksmith's bellows. He 
doesn't even let his breath out quietly,^ — his saw is sharpened at 
both edges." 

This pathetic appeal came from the upper-story of the " El 
Dorado Hotel," 

" He doesn't lodge here at all," answered another, from the 
ground-floor of the same establishment ; " he lives next door, in 
the ^California Hotel.'" 

" It is the Counsellor," shouted a voice from the last-men- 
tioned house of entertainment. " Hallo ! Mr. Ohlers, are you 
sleeping up there ? " 

" Yes, if you call this sleeping, Mr. Hufner," answered the 
person addressed. " But how come you there ? I thought you 
had packed up your traps and stepped it, and were now eighteen 
or twenty feet under ground, in some comfortable shaft or other, 
digging up gold by the light of a dark lantern. But might I beg 
you to give the Counsellor a poke in the ribs ? — ^just for his own 
sake, you know, for he really might do himself an injury ! " 

" And have him bringing a criminal action against us, eh ? " 
shouted Mr. Binderhof, from another berth. 



72 



AN EVENING IN SAN FBANCISCO. 



"Ah! Mr. Binderhof from Hamburgh/' cried Ohlers, in 
reply. " Very happy to meet you here, I'm sure ! Deuce take 
it, there's that child beginning to scream now, — it's all through 
the Counsellor." 

" If you please, gentlemen, keep silence," Assessor Mohler's 
soft voice was now heard entreating, in its most winning tones. 
" Poor Mrs. Siebert cannot sleep at all, and the little boy is lying 
wide awake." 

"Please, Mr. Assessor, would you carry the child up and down 
a bit ? — it will be quiet directly," cried another voice that seemed 
to come from the house on the right of the " California Hotel." 

"Isn't that Mr. Lamberg?" asked Ohlers. 

"At your service, Mr. Ohlers," answered the voice. "No. 
17, Pacific Street, on the ground-floor. You live at No. 19, if I 
am not mistaken." 

" Haven't looked at the number of the house yet," answered 
Ohlers. " Are you lodging in the 'California Hotel ? ' " 

" I beg your pardon, I am boarding with a private family, at a 
hatmaker's, — a widower. By the way, I shall certainly support 
the motion to make the Counsellor hold his noise ; it's against 
all the rights of nations." 

"If Mr. Assessor would only keep that child quiet," whined 
Binderhof, from the ground-floor of the " El Dorado Hotel." 
" What else has he come here for ? " 

"Mr. Binderhof, I object to your impertinence," the Assessor 
<jried warmly ; but Ohlers interrupted him, by calling out from 
his lodging in the " private family," — 

"As you seem to know all about it so well, my worthy Mr. 
Binderhof, perhaps you would inform us what ^ou have come 
here for ; I've been trying to make it out these six months — 
all through the voyage." 

The shout of laughter that pealed from all three houses, at this 
sally, drowned Binderhof's reply ; but other sleepers, disturbed 
by the noise, protested against such a disturbance in the middle 
of the night, and called for silence. Eoremost among the grum- 
blers was the Counsellor himself, who had at length awaked, and 
was crying indignantly,— 

" Confound it — making a row — rascals — let others sleep ! " 

But it being pretty generally known that he had caused the 
disturbance, there was a common attack upon him, till even some 
of the dwellers on the opposite side of the way interfered, and 
peremptorily demanded silence. 

At length the noise ceased — the people grew tired themselves, 
iihough no one cared about his neighbours. But the child kept 



THE FIEST CONFLAGRATION. 



73 



on crying, till at last the Assessor was obliged to walk up and 
down the room with it. 

The child, too, slept at last. The Counsellor had probably 
turned upon his side, for his bassoon was silent ; and the whole 
town became so quiet that the howling of the cayotas and the 
great brown bears could be plainly heard from the mountains on 
the coast. 

It was midnight. One of the old brown wolves uttered a 
long-drawn, plaintive yell ; and the little gray prairie wolves or 
cayotas howled in concert, — ^first from one side, then from 
another, their cries were borne on the wind, mingling strangely 
with the hoarse rustle of the distant breakers. 

Even the wolves' howl, growing tainter and fainter in the 
direction of the Mission Mountains, ceased. The moon had 
long since set, and deep dark night lay heavy on the sleeping 
city. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

THE EIRST CONFLAGRATION. 

" Eire ! Eire !" The alarm rang out like a trumpet-call through 
the deserted streets, till the sleepers started in wild terror from 
their beds ; and onward still was borne the shriek — " Eire V' 

No one could realize the whole fearful import of the word, 
in a town like San Erancisco ; they had as yet seen no specimen 
of the rapidity with which the devouring element could eat its 
way into the marrow and life of the populace. But, like unde- 
fined pictures of dangert, here arose before the minds of the half- 
awakened inhabitants visions of the sun-dried wooden booths, 
the tarry tent-cloths, and the inflammable canvass walls ; and 
with the thought of these came a glimmering sense of the de- 
struction that was about to burst over them. 

"Eire!" With what peculiar horror was the frenzied shout 
carried through the streets of San Erancisco. " Eire ! " The cry 
found an echo in every wooden barn, in every canvass tent 
throughout the city ; and in a few seconds nearly all the inhabi- 
tants, who, as a rule, slept in their clothes on their hard couches, 
rushed into the streets, and were looking about them in bewil- 
dered wonder. 



7^ 



THE PIKST CONriiAGEATIOl^. 



No red glow in the skj was yet seen to indicate tlie direction 
of the danger; — no engine rattling through the streets, no bell 
tolling the alarm, gave certainty to their fears ; and the thou- 
sands stood in silence, looking anxiously to the right and to the 
left, for a confirmation of their fears. 

Where is it?'' men at length began to ask of their neigh- 
bours ; but the question needed no reply — for, another moment, 
and as if a volcano had suddenly burst forth into action, a pillar 
of flame rose suddenly towards the heavens, crackling and roar- 
ing as it raged upwards. 

" Eire ! " The cry rose in a frantic yell from every mouth ; for 
the whole place seemed wrapped in flame. "Eire!'' and away 
they rushed, with a vague feeling of saving something, or some 
one, towards the place of danger. 

"To the Plaza! to the Plaza!" now passed from mouth to 
mouth ; and towards the great square roiled the human crowd : 
but already they were too late, for the fire, whose growth might 
be counted by seconds, already rolled towards the streets leading 
out of the Plaza, feeding daintily on the hissing tar that covered 
the wooden and canvass walls. 

"Help!" Who could help, where the whole world seemed 
burning together ? So soon as the fire touched a tent, the can- 
vass tenement shrivelled like a sheet of paper in the flaming 
grasp of the destroyer, and a storm of burning sparks hailed 
down on the inmates, as they fled Vvildly forth. 

And the wind, too, blew briskly on the tongues of flame, and 
whirled burning shreds and splinters high over the houses into 
distant streets, lighting up fresh conflagrations in their ruinous 
flight. Amid the fiery glare there was a vision of frightened 
ghastly horror-stricken faces. Here men hurried along, carrying 
whatever of their property they had been able to snatch up in 
haste — there others had saved nothing but their own lives from 
the fiery death; and a crowd of applicants for information came 
flocking round them, asking questions about the calamity. Had 
they understood it in its whole force, they would never have 
remained standing to inquire about it. 

" Help ! help ! " a voice was heard shrieking at intervals 
through the flames, which, driven by the wind, rushed on with 
a sound like the flapping of a heavy sail unloosed in a calm. 
" Help ! " who could help them, poor wretches ? Where was 
the sailor who could embark on a sea of flame — the salamander 
who could live in flre ? 

The cry for help died away ; but presently another shout arose 
•—a shriek of dismay and terror. 



THE FIEST COOTLAGRATION. 75 

" There's a fire blazing in Pacific Street — tlie Louses dov/n by 
tlie wharf have caught — the whole town's doomed !" 

In an instant the crowd was scattering in all directions. 
Every one who lived in the endangered neighbourhood ran to 
I secure his property, or as much of it as he could get to- 
jJ gether. 

f But though thousands had rushed away, fresh thousands came 
! running to take their places ; and already the quick practical 
I sense of the Americans had hit on the right plan, not to quench 
the fire, for that would have been impossible, but to confine 
it to certain limits, and prevent it from spreading indefinitely. 

Yery fortunately, the wind fell a little ; but for this, the whole 
town would have been burnt down, without remedy. Parties 
now went about, armed v/ith axes and ropes, to stop the progress 
of the fire, by pulling down the wooden buildings and tents in its 
way. While some attacked with their axes the posts of wooden 
houses not yet touched by the flames, others fastened ropes round 
i the dwellings, quite careless as to what they might contain ; and 
a few vigorous pulls from a hundred strong arms soon levelled 
them with the ground. 

But even that desperate remedy sometimes failed. The flaming 
fragments of the tents flew like evil spirits over the houses ; the 
few engines the town could boast could not be got near the chief 
fire, but had sufficient occupation in keeping it from spreading to 
streets it had not yet touched. 

The excitement and terror among the inhabitants now reached 
the highest pitch. Every fresh house that caught fire increased 
the common danger ; and darkly- whispered reports of incendiaries, 
passing from mouth to mouth as the men worked with axe and 
rope, tended to increase the general confusion. 

The whole side of the Plaza, on which stood the chief gambling- 
rooms, with the Parker House in their midst, was not only 
wrapped in flames, but burned to the ground within a quarter of 
an hour, and only the smoking ruins remained, still sending forth 
fitful jets of flame and showers of sparks. The Parker House 
itself, built of thin wooden beams and planks, dried and shrivelled 
by the sun, and roofed with tarred boards, burned like a huge 
torch ; and its inhabitants, though alarmed at the very commence- 
ment by the cry of " Eire ! " had scarcely been able to escape with 
their lives. 

"Eire !" The summons had rung through the building from 
basement to roof, and brought the lodgers in the upper stories 
trembling to the windows. They cast but one glance at the 
threatening danger below ; and, seizing whatever came to hand. 



76 



THE PIEST CONFLAGEATION. 



they hurried to the narrow wooden staircase, to make their way 
into the open air before their only means of retreat should be 
cut off. 

Hetson, who was lodging, with his young wife, in the upper 
art of the house, though morbidly sensitive where his domestic 
appiness was concerned, did not belong to that weak class of 
men who are paralyzed in the presence of a real and threatening 
danger. On the contrary, its near approach roused all his dormant 
energies ; and, seeing at a glance the state of the case, he said, 
quickly, — 

"Jemiy! this house is doomed — all the people in San Eran- 
cisco couid not save it ; but I must secure our money, and a 
few necessary clothes for you, if we are not to perish in this 
place.'' 

I will go with you ! " cried his wife, dreadfully alarmed — for 
the bright glare in front of the window, the sparks flying over 
the roof, the crying and shouting of the assembled crowd, and 
the trembling of the crazy building, as the inhabitants rushed 
down its narrow staircases, had made her almost faint with 
terror. 

" Stop ! — not yet," said Hetson, who, with perfect presence of 
mind, had unlocked his cashbox, and hidden the money about his 
own person, and now glanced through the open door ; " the stair- 
case is crowded with people trampling blindly on one another. 
Eirst let us have a clear course, for we have a few minutes to 
spare yet ; and, in the mean time. Til try to get your box out 
into the street.'' 

" I shall faint with fear in the mean time ! " exclaimed the 
terrified wife. 

" Then follow me," said Hetson, after a moment's considera- 
tion, and try to carry that travelling-bag with you. Then you 
shall stay below to take care of the things, and I will return to 
save whatever I can." 

"Oh, then, come!" cried his wife, earnestly. "Look, see 
how the fire has increased in these few seconds. The flame 
is leaping up against the house up yonder. If the staircase 
catches fire, we are lost." 

" Not yet, my darling," laughed Hetson, who recovered all his 
energy in the presence of danger. " Only keep close behind me ; 
and if the travelling-bag becomes too heavy for you, throw it 
away ; its contents can be replaced, after all. So now to work. 
Once safely down stairs, we shall do well enough." 

So saying, he lifted on his shoulder a box that contained some 
clothes belonging to his wife, opened the door, and walked out 



THE FIEST C0NFLAGEATI0I3". 



77 



into the passage, into wliicli people were crowding from every 
room. Jenny followed, as he directed, close behind him. Her 
left hand was tightly grasped in his, while with her right she 
endeavoured to keep firm hold of the travelling-bag he had 
intrusted to her care. This was, however, impossible. In a few 
seconds the bag was wrenched from her and thrust aside ; and 
Jenny had but just time enough to make a clutch at it, and fling 
it from the top of the staircase to the bottom. 

" The staircase is going ! shouted a horrified voice from below; 
and, in the sudden terror the notion inspired, every one who had 
a chance of getting to the top again pushed backwards. 

That was a fortunate circumstance for the rest ; and Hetson — 
who knew only too well that they were lost if the man who gave 
the alarm had spoken truth^ — rushed with his wife towards the 
creaking, groaning stairs, and hastened down at headlong speed. 

The glare of the fire helped him to pass a spot in safety which 
might have been fatal to him but for its light. Part of the 
banisters, just at one of the turnings in the stairs, had given way 
from the pressure of the crowd against it ; but the fiames lit up 
the whole place so completely as to show the danger, and enable 
the fugitives to avoid it. 

But still they were far from safe ; for as the stream of inmates 
pressed out into the open air, they were encountered by another 
crowd, rushing into the house ; some, Vvho belonged to it, to 
make an effort to save some of their property, some rushing up 
from mere curiosity ; and others again, probably for the sake of 
what they could steal during the confusion. 

One door was still locked, the door that led into the hall. 
Eut the persons thus imprisoned did not take time to discover 
whether the door had been fastened from within or from without. 
They threw themselves against the thin })artition, and sent the 
door crashing into the hall, through which their way led into the 
open air. What cared they for the fact that they trampled on 
chairs and tables, and probably on boxes of gold which the pro- 
prietors had not found time to carry off ? There lay the entrance 
— that was the way into the open street — and away went the 
crowd, throwing down whatever opposed it, pushing aside the 
heavy tables, and smashing the light chairs to pieces. 

"Hetson!'' cried a loud, rough voice suddenly; ''hallo! — 
Hetson ! — confound it, you've had a pretty introduction to 
California ! 

" Siftly ! my good genius led you here !" exclaimed the other, 
joyfully; ''pray look after my wife for a minute ; and then I can 
run back and save our effects." 



78 



THE PIEST CONFLAGRATION. 



" Yery sorry, my good friend/' answered the gamester, shrug- 
ging his shoulders, " but all I can call mine on the face of the 
earth is exposed to the same danger, and I must see what little 
I can save of it." 

But my wife- " 

" Go with her to the Court-house ; that's the only place where 
you will be safe for the present ; for how long I can't say, for 
really it seems as if all the devils were loose, to burn down this 
unhappy old crib." 

Hetson stayed to hear no more, but fled with his wife as fast 
as he could towards the street, to get out of the way of danger, 
by making his way across the Plaza. But such a number of 
idlers had collected there, and such heaps of baggage had been 
piled up, that Hetson thought it best to keep towards the left 
side of the square, as the wind blew in the contrary direction. 
He thought that for the first hour or two he might find a shelter 
in one of the houses, at least for his wife. 

The left side of the Plaza seemed really to be quite ou.t of 
danger, for the wind was hurrying the flames in an entirely 
opposite direction. An English medical man had opened a 
" doctor's shop the board over the door shone brightly in the 
light of the fire, and Hetson immediately begged his assistance. 
The doctor was ready to serve him as far as circumstances would 
allow. He certainly counselled the applicant, rather to seek some 
more distant place of refuge, as the Plaza seemed by no means a 
fit retreat for a delicate woman. But Hetson was determined 
to try and force his way once more into the Parker House, to 
save at least a portion of his wardrobe. He therefore besought 
Jenny, in a few hurried words, to stay where she was till he 
returned, — and ran as fast as his feet would carry him, back to 
the Parker House, which by this time was in a blaze. 

Pressing forward with frantic haste, he reached the threshold 
of the burning pile ; but to enter it was imDOssible. A couple 
of smoke-begrimed figures escaping from the house rushed past 
him. In one of them he thought he recognized Siftly. But he 
had not even time to look round to ascertain if his surmise was 
correct ; for at that moment the beams of the Parker House 
gave way with a crash, broke through the light ceiling of the 
hall, already damaged by the fire, and in the next minute the 
outer walls were wrapped in one huge sheet of flame. 

A deluge of sparks went roaring along with the wind as the 
roof fell in ; and the direction of the breeze had changed a 
moment before. No longer through the length of the street went 
the roaring flames, but straight across the Plaza towards the row 



THE PIRST CONFLAGEATIOK. 



79 



of houses yet uninjured, tlie terrible shower of sparks and burn- 
ing fragments came bounding. 

A terrible confusion was thus occasioned on the Plaza itself, 
where all the rescued property had been heaped up. Into the 
midst of that promiscuous mass of goods, hailed the burning 
shower, and some light clothes, thrown carelessly on the heap, 
were the first to catch fire. The spectators, instead of pressing 
them together, and thus stifling the flame, tore the mass apart 
in their terror ; thus increasing the rapidity with which it burned. 
In a few seconds the fire had spread to the rest of the baggage, 
and before many minutes had gone the whole store that had been 
considered safe was burning like a huge bonfire, and endangering 
even the distant houses on the opposite side of the Plaza. 

This new misfortune had raised the excitement of the inhabi- 
tants of San Erancisco to the highest pitch; and with the 
excitement, rose anger, and a desire for vengeance against the 
incendiaries — for, by this time, the belief that the fire was not 
accidental had become certain. 

Curses and threats, blasphemies against the earth and the 
Creator, rolled in an impure flood from a hundred throats ; and 
the universal rage was increased tenfold by the reflection that it 
was objectless and aimless — that the crowd had no victim upon 
whom to glut its appetite for blood and revenge. 

The change in the wind had threatened the whole town with 
destruction. Houses hitherto spared by the flames, but whose 
roofs the heat had dried and shrivelled, caught fire as soon as a 
spark fell upon them. Two engines certainly came to give 
assistance, and the carmen were constantly at work, bringing up 
water from the bay ; but they had little hope of being able to 
conquer the hungry, raging element. 

Hetson saw in a moment that any further attempt to penetrate 
into the doomed house would be sheer madness; he therefore 
turned to rejoin his wife without loss of time. But that was not 
an easy thing to achieve; and to his horror he noticed, that 
flames were rising in the direction of the doctor's house, while 
the crowding and crush of people on the Plaza was worse than 
ever. It was almost impossible for one man alone to thread his 
way through the surging masses of the populace, so as to avoid 
the burning pile of goods in the centre of the Plaza. 

Among those who had worked with the greatest zeal, endea- 
vouring first to save property, and when that became imprac- 
ticable, to stay the progress of the fire, — a man of colour, a 
great broad-shouldered "free nigger" from the United States, 
had made himself conspicuous, — and he now came running up. 



80 



THE I'lEST CONFLAGRATION. 



to offer his help in the new danger that threatened the Plaza, 
He saw at once, that the people were doing more harm than 
good by their zeal in separating the burning mass, — while by 
turning their efforts to pulling down houses which threatened 
to take fire, they might confine the devastation within certain 
limits. 

Reeking with perspiration, his clothes hanging about him in 
rags, but full of zeal in his work of helpfulness, the negro came 
pushing through the crowd, who had either lost their ability to 
help, or were spending their strength in useless efforts, and cried 
with all his might, — 

" Let de trash Wrn ! — what's de use of a few old boxes and 
tables ? — over dere " 

" Trash ? — who says trash ? " roared one or two fellows, whose 
whole property, perhaps, had been included in the burning heap. 
" The black varmint seems mighty glad of the fire ! " 

" But I tell ye — exclaimed the negro, trying to make him- 
self heard above the din — " ye're more use over dere. If de 
fire " 

" Expect he's one of the d — d incendiaries, who've set all our 
goods burning here ! " cried an angry voice. 

"What is it? Whom have they got there? One of the 
thieves who lit up the fire ? — ^Down with the dog 1 Knock him 
down ! Tear his heart out of his body ! " yelled some of the 
crowd, who stood farther off, and had not heard distinctly what 
was going on. 

"Back there — are ye mad?" cried the negro; and he tried 
to force his way out, by jumping over some of the boxes that 
stood in his way. 

"That's him — hold him — don't let him go"— -and there arose 
another fierce yell. " Throw him into the fire, and give him a 
roasting I " 

" Where's the rascal ? " now cried those who stood nearest 
the negro, and who thought an incendiary had been captured 
somewhere else, and had afterwards escaped. "Where's the 
dog ? " 

" There he springs — don't let him get off !— to the fire with 
him ! " yelled the crowd- — delighted at having caught some one 
on whom to vent its rage. 

The black man, who knew from experience gained in the 
United States, that a " nigger," who offended a party of white 
men, was not treated with much tenderness, though he were 
innocent as the babe unborn, tried to get out of the way of the 
most exasperated ; once free from their clutches, he had little to 



THE PIEST CONFLAGRATION. 



81 



fear from the rest. But a chest, upon which he sprang, stood on 

the very edge of a pile of goods. It overbalanced with him, 

and, as he tried to recover his equilibrium, he stumbled, and fell 

on his hands and knees. 

" There he is ! — hold him ! — down with him ! — ^fling him into 

the fire, the murdering black brute ! " roared the fiercest among 

the raging crowd. 

"But, gentlemen!" shrieked the poor object of their fury, 

now really in terror for his life, " I have been helping wherever 
ij I could, and never set fire to no place at all ! " 

But words were thrown away on the maddened wretches, who, 
; pressing closer and more closely upon the poor negro, threw him 
J on the ground. The black victim of their senseless rage now felt 
I that his life was at stake, and strove with all his gigantic strength 
I to get free ; and wherever his stalwart blows fell, there were yells 
i of pain : but it was of no avail. 

I " Down with the rascal — kill him ! " shouted the savages ; and, 
pushed on by the crowd behind, the foremost of his enemies. 
i| trampled him under foot. 

Without weapons to defend himself, at the mercy of his tor- 
mentors, the negro could still use his arms and his teeth — and in 
his despair he clutched and bit at his foes like a hunted wolf ; 
but it was in vain. Over his body went the yelling frantic- 
throng ; and those who could not seize him, to throw him into the 
fire, as their intention had been, kicked him with their iron boot- 
heels, until his mangled form no longer stirred. 

Like a troop of demons let loose, the yelling wretches ran to 
and fro by the firelight. They had just sacrificed an innocent 
man, but yet thought they had done no wrong. Who in that 
hour of danger and dismay could talk of jiroof of the trial of 
a suspected man ? The baneful word that had marked him as an 
incendiary had been spoken — ^whether by accident or design, no 
one could tell, — the mad, unreasoning throng had taken up the i 
cry, and the victim lay a mangled corpse beneath their feet. 

The dead body was afterwards cast into the fiames, perhaps 
from an undefined feeling that it would be as well to destroy all 
evidence of their revenge ; and from mouth to mouth, to the ' 
farthest corner of the town, the tidings were borne, that the fire 
had been purposely lighted up, but that one of the miscreants 
had been caught and thrown into the flames. 

Shuddering with horror, as he was hurried, an unv/illing wit- 
ness of this sudden and terrible popular outbreak, over the very 
body of the dying man, Hetson exerted all his strength to extri- 
cate himself from the mass of furious madmen around him. As 

G 



82 



THE FIRST COXELAGEATION. 



soon as he had succeeded in his endeavour, he ran with all pos- 
sible speed to the row of houses where he had left his wife. It 
was burning fiercely. 

Cool and collected as Hetson had been till now, in the presence 
of danger, this new blow almost drove him frantic. He ran like 
a maniac, heedless of falling planks and beams, along the row of 
burning houses, calling J enny by her name, and cursing his own 
folly in leaving her alone at such a moment. In vain he sought 
high and low. At last, after he had more than once risked his 
life in the search, he found the doctor's shop where he had left 
her. He knew the place by the shelves, now lying half charred 
upon the ground, and by the phials and glasses that lay strewn 
around ; but of the late inhabitants not a trace was left. They 
had, in fact, fled to avoid the fire, through the back buildings, 
and over some planks ; — and the engines had just driven up to the 
corner house — a clay-built dwelling, from the time of the Spanish 
occupation, — to endeavour to preserve it, and thus check the 
progress of the fire in that direction. 

Tired to death, but scarcely conscious of his fatigue, in his 
anxiety for his lost wife, Hetson stopped for a moment, to col- 
lect his faculties, and to reflect where he should seek her next. 
To reflect ! — the idea seemed a mockery, when his head was throb- 
bing madly, and he was obliged to support himself by the wheel 
of a water-cart, to avoid falling outright. 

"Mr. Hetson ! " suddenly called a well-known voice ; and, turn- 
ing his head, he beheld old Dr. Eascher, who, panting under the 
weight of a gre^t brass-bound box, had stopped beside him. 

"This is a sorrowful day for us, and a bad beginning in 
California.^' 

" Doctor," gasped the young man, on recognizing the speaker, 
"have you — have you seen my wife among this mass of people 

"Mrs. Hetson? — Certainly ! " answered the Doctor. "When 
I ran back to bring away this chest, I saw her, in company with 
a gentleman, hurrying up the next street. A woman's light dress 
is such a rare sight in this wild place, that it is sure to attract 
one's notice ; but I thought you were with her, and I was too 
much taken up with my own losses, to pay much attention to 
others." 

" With a gentleman ! — a stranger ? " groaned Hetson, before 
whose imagination all the phantoms, so lately dispelled, gathered 
with renewed force ; — " with him ? " 

" Eut, Mr. Hetson," remonstrated the old man. 

Hetson, however, heard nothing more. " Charles Golway," 
he muttered feebly, and fell fainting to the ground. 



THE PIPvST COKFLAGEATION. 



83 



It was certainly not a time for men to occupy themselves about 
a stranger ; and the Americans passed by the prostrate man with 
the greatest unconcern, scarcely pausing to glance at him where 
he lay. Yet the good old Doctor, neglecting even his brass-bound 
medicine-chest, which he left lying in the middle of the street, 
immediately took measures to help his fallen friend. But whither 
should he carry him ? The anxious glance he cast around re- 
vealed to him nothing but ruin and confusion, though it seemed 
that the fire was being gradually got under. 

The wind, which had shifted for a short time, now returned to 
its former quarter ; and this circumstance saved the part of 
the town towards California Street, which would otherwise have 
been destroyed. 

The flames were borne back from the buildings they had only 
just touched towards the open Plaza ; and by tearing down the 
nearest wooden sheds, and throwing volumes of water on the 
corner house, the people were at last enabled, after great exer- 
tions, to stop the further progress of the fire. 

As the old man stood, undecided which way to turn, he saw 
the fire flicker and extinguish in the last building, leaving the 
walls and part of the roof standing. Men were already hurry- 
ing to and fro with lamps, and he determined to carry his patient 
there, as the nearest place of anything like safety. 

Though past the prime of life, the old Doctor was still a sturdy, 
powerful man ; and with some difficulty he took up the senseless 
form, and carried it to the corner house. Some idlers soon 
came to his assistance, who had been watching the fire, and 
fancied Hetson had been stunned or killed by some falling beam. 

They soon reached the corner house. The inhabitants had 
either scorned to fly, or had already come back to take possession 
of their half-burnt domicile ; for the proprietor of the wine-shop 
on the ground-floor, was employed among the half-burnt frag- 
ments of the ceiling, which had given way at one end, hanging 
up and lighting fresh lamps, and arranging bottles and glasses 
for the sale of alcoholic liquors. Now was the time to get rid 
of his wares at good stiff prices ; and the man was too true a 
Yankee to miss an opportunity. 

The Doctor had not much leisure to observe the doings of 
this persevering tradesman ; for, as soon as he had deposited his 
patient, as comfortably as he could, in a corner of the smoking- 
room, he ran back to bring in his medicine-chest, wl^ich had been 
left to take care of itself. But what a change had come over 
the appearance of the grog-shop when the Doctor returned with 
his prize, after an absence of about ten minutes ! 

G 2 



84; 



THE PIEST CONFLAGRATION. 



To the right and left lamps and lanterns had been stuck up, 
lighting the room brilliantly. Behind the bar-table, only half 
cleared of sparks and bits of charcoal, and with one corner burnt 
off, stood two boys, to fill the glasses of the guests who came 
pouring in ; and, nailed up against the half-ruined wall at the 
back, under the starry sky that looked calmly through the 
shattered roof, lit up by the glimmer of the yet smouldering 
buildings around, mocking the calamity that had left thousands 
vrithout a shelter, was a large paper placard, with the inscrip- 
tion : — 

" Go ahead, young California ! 
Who the [unprintable] cares for a fire ! " 

The whole spirit of the inhabitants of California spoke out in 
those words ; now, for the first time, they were to show if their 
elastic natures w^ere proof against misfortune. 

''Who cares?" might be taken as a motto for California 
generally. 

Doctor Eascher had not time for reflection on the strange 
recklessness, and still stranger industry : his patient must be 
seen after ; and so he dragged his heavy chest, regardless of the 
drinking, noisy tribe around him, to the corner where he had 
laid Hetson down. The young m.an, however, had by this time 
recovered his senses, and at first looked round in some astonish- 
ment at the novel situation in which he found himself; but recol- 
lection of the late events, and of his own terrible loss, came 
crowding on him; and with a frightened start, he half rose 
from his hard couch, just as the good Doctor came hurrying 
towards him. 

"Hallo !" cried a couple of Yankees — backwoodsmen who 
had tramped to California over the prairies and across the Eocky 
Mountains, — rather startled to see what they had taken for a 
dead bodj become suddenly reanimated — "there's life enough 
left in that chap for him to swallow a glass of brandy. Here, 
old fellow, drink that ; it'll soon help ye on your legs again !" — 
and with rough good-nature they offered him a brimming bumper 
of raw spirit. 

Hetson was no dram-drinker, but he felt at that moment the 
want of some stimulant that would excite, if it did not refresh 
him. So, with a nod of thanks, he took the glass, and half 
emptied it. 

"Down with it, my boy!" said one of the men, laughing. 
" It's capital stuff, and runs through your veins lilce fire. What's 



THE riEST CONFLAGRATION. 



85 



the matter with you ? Got a knock from a beam or post ? Ah ! 
they sometimes come down on a fellow plaguy hard." 

"Thank yon, friend!" answered Hetson, putting back the 
proffered glass ; " it has done me good already. I feel much 
stronger now. Ah, Doctor ! you come like a true friend — in 
time of need. Have you found her?" 

"My dear Mr. Hetson/' said the old man, anxiously, as he 
glanced round the crowded room, " let us be glad, in the first 
place, that you are on your legs again ; the rest we will settle 
to-morrow, when we are calmer and less excited." 

" To-morrow ?" whispered Hetson; and he sprang to his feet, 
and grasped the Doctor's hand, till the old man winced and drew 
back; '''do you think that I could wait until to-morrow, and not 
go mad outright. I must go ! " 

" But what, in the name of Heaven, do you intend to do out 
of doors, in your exhausted state?" remonstrated the Doctor, 
trying to hold him back. " At any rate wait for daylight, and I 
will, with all my heart " 

" Let me go. Doctor 1 " cried Hetson, forcibly releasing his 
arm. " I know you mean it for my good ; but, to-morrow — 
to-morrow ! No, I must go now — this instant ! " and before his 
adviser could prevent it, he had pushed his way through the 
people who stood round, and was gone. 

The visitors had long ceased to take any notice of his doings ; 
and even if they remarked his excitement, there was abundant 
explanation for it, in the calamity that had just befallen the town. 
That a man who had perhaps lost everything he possessed in the 
world should behave rather strangely, tbey could well under- 
stand. But such things did not interfere with the custom of the 
grog-shop ; for, as the separate parties of visitors went out, they 
were continually replaced by fresh arrivals. 

The placard improvised by the proprietor had turned out a 
capital "spec." The people liked the sentiment set forth in 
that remarkable production ; and the grog-shop took more money 
in a few hours than it would have received, under ordinary 
circumstances, in a week. 



86 



APTEH THE riRE. 



CHAPTER VII. 

APTEE, THE EIRE. 

It was ten o'clock in the morning before the fire was so 
completely mastered as to leave no further room for fear. A 
number of the houses and tents which had been pulled down 
were still smouldering ; but engines had been posted to extin- 
guish these last embers, and where no engines were to be had 
the citizens went to work, tearing the smoking masses asunder, 
strewing sand over the glimmering fragments, and doing their 
best to avert all further danger. 

While these precautions were being taken on the confines 
of the scene of devastation, many people were employed in the 
midst of the blackened space, which had been a town twelve 
hours before, searching for the site where their dwellings had 
stood. 

While the fire was still raging fiercely the proprietor of {he 
Parker House had entered into a contract with a builder, by 
which the latter bound himself to erect a similar structure, 
equally roomy and commodious, to be fit for occupation within 
sixteen days ; and at one o'clock in the day a fresh alarm was 
caused by people who had been driving timber into the Plaza, 
which timber had taken fire from being thrust into the scorched 
ground. 

And now was shown the strange vitality of this people, whom 
the thirst of gold — the desire for riches — had blown together from 
the ends of the earth. There v/as no murmuring heard among 
them, no lamentation over their losses ; no father stood despond- 
ing by the smouldering relics of what had been his home. As 
the hunter in the forest, whose hut, roughly built of branches 
and brushwood, has been blown down by a storm, sets to work 
to build himself another shelter, without wasting a thought on 
the hovel he has lost, — so in the hearts of these men there was 
scarcely a regret for what the last night had cost them. They 
were thrown, for the second time, naked on the coast, — ^but it was 
the coast of California, and four weeks' time was deemed sufficient 
to make good all the loss they had suffered. 



AFTER THE FIEE. 



87 



They could afford to lose everything, except time. Every hour 
they let pass unused, after the fire, was irreparably lost to them ; 
and there was a general rush among the inhabitants, who should 
be first ready to make a fresh start. 

Every cart that could be seized upon was employed before the 
afternoon in carrying away the fragments of the burnt houses. 
Posts and beams, still red with glimmering fire, were fastened 
together with chains, and dragged away by horses, mules, asses, 
and even by manual strength, to make room for the fresh wood, 
and prevent a renewal of the morning's danger. Before the night 
set in, temporary dwellings, roofed with thin boards covered with 
sailcloth, had arisen on the site of last night's flames ; and from 
amid the reeking ruins, which all the day's exertions had been 
insufB.cient to remove, sounded the harsh fiddle and the blaring 
trumpet, to lure the idlers into the gamester's abode. 

As mushrooms spring up to their full size in a single nigbt, 
the tents and houses sprang up on the hot earth ; in some cases 
it was even necessary to throw water, from time to time, on the 
lower boards, to prevent them from taking fire. 

The projectors of these fragile dwellings had, of course, to pay 
enormous wages to the labourers for their work, and every lath 
was purchased at an enormous price ; but what did that matter ? 
The rent given on one single evening for the play-tables almost 
paid for the building ; and each man strove to make the most of 
the time ; for the gambling-houses v/ould soon be rebuilt in a 
long row, each one striving to outvie the other. 

The rebuilding of the Parker House had, of course, been 
begun that day. More than fifty people were hard at work 
digging holes for the posts and pillars that were to support the 
outer walls ; and the proprietor, unwilling to leave the valuable 
space unoccupied, had erected a long low tent on the site of his 
former mansion. 

The floor of this tent was certainly nothing but the bare 
ground, cooled with water, and afterwards stamped hard ; but in 
one corner stood a little orchestra, while a bar occupied the 
other. Poles had been stuck in the ground to support the lamps ; 
the never-failing play-tables stood in the midst, surrounded with 
a sufficiency of chairs ; and in the background, occupying every 
spare inch of space, was a long dining table, the provisions being 
supplied from a kind of outhouse kitchen in the rear. 

There was no placard, such as the enterprising Yankee of the 
grog-shop had put up ; but every sound of the orchestral trumpet, 
every mallet-stroke that drove in a fresh beam for the new build- 
ing, seemed to echo the burden—-" Who cares And thus, in 



88 



AFTER THE EERE. 



the midst of ruin and desolation, the gambling-houses were the 
first to rear their walls— showing by their speedy birth and rapid 
growth, to what a size they would attain, fattening, as they did, 
on treachery and fraud, in the congenial soil of California. 

The gambling element, whose chief food was here, in the 
metropolis of the land, could not by any possibility be eradicated. 
A fire might burn the poisonous plant even to the ground ; but 
its root remained untouched, and like a rank weed it began to 
grow and flourish anew. But the skirmishers — the light infantry 
of the place — the gold-washers, who only looked on San Eran- 
cisco as a place for a holiday — a merry resort, from which they 
could return to the real California — California proper — the land 
of the mountain and gorge, — all these felt insecure after the 
conflagration, and consequently uncomfortable : thus they left 
the town in crowds, the day after the fire, anxious to be quit of 
a place where the same scene might be re-enacted at any 
moment. 

Among the Germans the exodus was very general ; for while 
the Americans were naturally accustomed to a stormy life of 
danger and adventure, the quiet Teuton stood aghast at finding 
the two things he had considered most indispensable in life — 
namely, peace and safety, — entirely wanting in the golden city. 
And yet the calamitous fire had done comparatively little harm 
among the German community, as the cheaper lodging-houses — 
miscalled hotels — in which they had taken up their quarters, were 
situated in the outskirts of the town, and had escaped uninjured 
But the warning, of what might happen to them in San Erancisco, 
had not been thrown away on the majority ; and all who were 
not detained by particular business, strapped up their bundles, 
and betook themselves to the mountains without loss of time. 

The fire had been quenched before it reached " Pacific Street," 
so that the two German hotels escaped with the fright. But 
most of the lodgers found the locality too warm for them, and 
even the Counsellor made up his mind to be off at once. 

Eor the Counsellor to resolve on any step so suddenly, was a 
remarkable thing ; for he usually deliberated for some time on 
any move, before carrying it out. But in one night he had ob- 
tained more experience than was exactly agreeable to him, of 
American life and Yankee proceedings — for no policeman had 
interfered when a great tall fellow knocked the Counsellor's long 
pipe out of the Counsellor's own mouth, as he stood looking on 
at the fire ; and beyond this, hurried along by the crowd, he had 
been an involuntary and horrified spectator at the murder of the 



a:ft2'r the fiee. 



89 



i negro, which, to his still greater indignation, was afterwards 
spoken of as quite an everyday incident. 
After this last occurrence he had made the best of his way 

I home, the moment he could extricate himself from the crowd ; but 
he spoke to no one of what he had seen, nor did he utter any 
opinion on the subject ; the horrible people might take it into 
their heads to treat him just in the same way : and hence the 

! Counsellor's sudden resolution to leave the place as soon as he 

! could. 

The man who left San Erancisco, however, had no resource 
I but to go to the mines ; and so the Counsellor waited upon the 
i astonished Assessor Mohler, with a proposition that they should 
I go to the mountains together. 

Though goodnatured, thoughtful Assessor Mohler had a great 
respect for the Counsellor, whose whole manner impressed him, 
he still firmly, though politely, declined "the very handsome 
proposal'' — alleging that he could not leave poor Mrs. Sie- 
bert alone in her affliction — that he had, in fact, promised to 
stand by her, and must therefore keep his word, glad as he 
would, under other circumstances, have been to have joined a 
party of his own countrymen. 

The Counsellor only shrugged his shoulders in reply, and the 
affair was considered settled. The day was to be devoted to a 
general packing up ; for, besides the Counsellor, Messrs. Lam- 
berg, Binderhof, and Hufner, had determined to set out together. 

The three last-named gentlemen had soon completed their 
arrangements. One of the little steamers which plied in the bay 
was to take them to Stockton, and from thence they were going 
I on to try their luck in the southern mines. But the afternoon 
had come, and still the Counsellor would do nothing but smoke 
his pipe, and go shuffling about, to make observations on the 
El Dorado. At last, as the others kept urging him on, and 
declared that they would not wait for him one moment, next 
morning, he set to work, but in such an awkward manner that 
Assessor Mohler, scrupulously neat in all such matters, could 
stand it no longer, but offered to do all the packing for the Coun- 
sellor, on condition of having everything collected in one place, 
and then being left to his own devices. The Counsellor, happy at 
being relieved from so much trouble, at once acceded to these 
requests. 

The indefatigable Assessor accordingly began his task at two 
in the afternoon, interrupted only at intervals by his duties as 
nurse to Mrs. Siebert's children. He made up a bale compact 
enough for a journey round the world ; looked out a piece of 



} 



90 AETEE, THE EIEE. 

packing-canvass, with needle and thread from his own stock ; and 
long after dark he was still standing in the street at his work, 
attracting the wondering gaze of the passers-by, as he threaded 
his great needle by the light of the moon. 

The Counsellor, in the meantime, walked to and fro, smoking 
without manifesting the least impatience ; and when his obliging 
friend had at length concluded his task, he said laconically, — 

" Much obliged — please roll the bale into the tent ; " and 
strolled down the street with his pipe, to have another look at 
the Plaza. 

At a dark corner stood three men, talking vehemently to- 
gether — and angry words seemed passing between them. When 
the stranger approached them, they were silent, looked hastily 
at him, and waited to let him pass before resuming their con- 
versation. 

" — Evening," said the Counsellor, in his short way, though he 
intended to speak civilly — for he did not like the looks of the 
three men, and bestowed the mutilated salute as a propitiatory 
offering. Eut none of the men answered him, though they all 
turned sharply round ; and when he was quite out of earshot, the 
man who had spoken last — a little stout fellow-— went on with 
what he had to say. 

" Where have you two been hiding, that I haven't caught 
sight of you all day long ? " he cried — " and I've been running 
all over the town, in a fine fright. And where were you off to, 
together, eh ? — Oh, to look for me ! — and you fancy I am to 
believe that ! " 

" Certainly, we were looking for you," answered one of the 
others, a tall, lanky man ; " and if you'd be sensible. Brown, and 
listen to me a minute, you'd hear all about it." 

"All that you two have arranged so nicely, eh I " cried the 
little man, with a scornful glance at the speaker. 

" I hope. Brown, you don't think I'd cheat a friend,'^ inter- 
posed the third man. " Deuce take it, don't I suffer just as 
much from the loss as you do ? and I have just as much right to 
call Smith to account as you have.'^ 

" Call me to account ! — for what ? " exclaimed Smith. " Could 
I quench the fire, when it burst all at once into the hall, and filled 
the whole place with flame and smoke ? See how poor Jacobs 
was burnt, through trying to drag his money-box out into the 
open air ; and yet I didn't desert my post, and should have 
brought away the stuff if that cursed beam that fell from the 
ceiling hadn't stopped me as I ran. I tell you it was a matter 
of life and death — and if I hadn't left everything behind, why. 



APTEH THE riRE. 



91 



I should liave been found among the ruins after the fire was 
over — and that's the truth of it.'' 

"But what became of the gold?" asked the pertinacious 
Brown. " You know ver j well, Siftly, that gold and silver don't 
burn like paper, and, melted or unmelted, there it must have 
remained." 

"And where is all the rest gone, then ?" interrupted Smith. 
" Who was to look after all the crowds of people who came rush- 
ing u.p to help at the fire ? I had taken care to remember the 
exact spot where I was obliged to leave the box, and spent two 
whole hours looking after it this morning. But all to no purpose: 
there wasn't a trace of the money to be seen, and we have just 
got to begin again, as we did four months ago." 

" If you weren't such a cowardly skulk. Smith," said Siftly, 
with a gloomy look, "you might have saved the gold easily 
enough. How did Folkers and his chum manage to save their 
whole stock ?" 

" Because their berth was close to the door," answered Smith. 
"That's right — begin to blame me because I haven't got the 
strength of ten men, and can't live in the fire like a salamander." 

" And is there nothing left — nothing at all — of the whole stock 
we owned in common?" asked Brown, who had been looking at 
his partners in anything but a friendly way. 

" Not a cent, as true as I stand here," exclaimed Smith, vehe- 
mently ; " I was even obliged to leave my cloak behind me ; and 
I'll take my Bible oath -" 

"Don't give yourself the trouble to do anything of the kind," 
said the little man ; " I know pretty weU how much you care for 
an oath ; for we know each other too well — worse luck." 

"But, Brown " 

"Let me finish. I see, too, that I can't prove anything against 
you now, though I may have my own thoughts on the matter ; 
and to bring the matter before a court would be foolery — ^just 
putting money into the lawyers' pockets. The fire of San Eran- 
cisco covers the whole affair ; and that's a kind of cloak under 
which many a clever fellow may hide himself : and so far you've 
managed the thing sharp enough. But " 

"Do you mean to say you believe I've stolen your money?" 
roared Smith, in an angry, bullying tone. 

" Most decided-/^ I do," replied Brown, with the utmost cool- 
ness of speech ; "and more than that — more than I care to tell 
you of just now. But look out for yourselves ! if I once get the 
proof that you've cheated me, the Lord have mercy on ye !" 

" Infernal rascal ! " yelled Smith, hoarse with rage — and he 



92 



AFTER THE PIE3. 



felt in his breast for tlie revolver he carried there. But Siftly's 
hand lay like iron upon his arm. They could not afford to have 
a disturbance with the police, and he stepped between the two to 
part them. 

"Brown/' he said, in a quiet, conciliating voice, "I believe 
you're wronging Smith ; and, at any rate, the way " 

"Believe whatever you like," interrupted the little man, at 
last fairly in a rage ; " but, if you want to make me stand to 
my words, you know where I live," and, turning on his heel, he 
marched quickly down the street, without deigning to look back 
once at his quondam partners. 

Smith made a movement as if to follow him ; but Siftly kept 
tight hold of his arm, and, as he drew him off in the opposite 
direction, he whispered, — 

" Let him go. Unless he had been quite an idiot, he couldn't 
help suspecting something; and, now that he's had his say, the 
affair will be over all the sooner. That he can't do anything he 
knows as well as we do ; and as for the few words he's said, I 
think we can put up with those — he's paid for them dearly 
enough." 

" But he'll come spying round after us," objected Smith. " If 
you hadn't held me back, I'd have made him quiet." 

" And we should have been by this time in the hands of a few 
constables, who would have asked more questions about our 
private affairs than we should exactly care to answer," said 
Siftly, laughing. " No, no, friend, not here in the town, which 
we must leave behind us to-morrow. If he should be blockhead 
enough to follow us, leave the affair to me, and you'll be satis- 
fied with my way of ending it. But that's enough of folly — now 
to talk of business. I couldn't find you myself after the fire, and 
should almost have thought our meeting now was an accident, if 
I didn't know of certain ties that unite us together. Is the gold 
safe?" 

" Yes," answered Smith. 

" Outside the town ?" 

" Of course. I knew of no safe place here ; and it wouldn't 
do to risk being found out." 

" Of course not. And when shall we go ?" 

" To-morrow morning, I think ; but, after what happened with 
that fellow just now, we shouldn't be seen together. We'd 
better meet at some other place — in the mines would be best." 

Siftly darted a quick, suspicious glance at his corjnpanion's 
face ; but, as they walked in the shadow of the houses, he could 
not catch its expression. 



APTEE THE FIEE. 



"And how shaU you take away the gold?" lie asked, after a 

" K'steamer to Sacramento, of com'se," answered Smith. 
"There I shall buy a mule,^ and pack it m the saddlebags. 

"And where is it now . 

"The gold?— In Sausalita: I went over there this morning. 
The best way is,-You go by land down the bay to Sacramento 
thouo-h it's rather a difficult and roundabout road ; and we won t 
meet^in Sacramento city, where Brown could .^^^^^^ ^f^^ S 
us, but in Yuba city : there no fellow will disturb us, that s 

^^"N^o" said Siftly, after a short consideration, " that's true 
enough • but I have thought the matter over differently, ana 
tSVe'd better make thejourney together And if Biwn 
should come after us, and if he were to meet us, what thenr* 
ril take very 2:ood care he does us no harm 

" Yery well,^f you don't trust me,^' said bmith, gloomily, ^ 
"That isn't the question just now," answered Sittiy quieiiy. 
" I know that you know me, and am therefore not afraid on my 
own account. At what o'clock does the Sausalita boa. gooff 
to-morrow morning ?" 
"At six." 

" And the Sacramento boat ? - > „ 

" At seven. But that stops at Sausalita too. 

"Yervwell. Then do you go by the first boat to-morrow 
morning and I'll follow you by the second. At the landing- 
place do you wait for me with the gold, and well finish the 
lourney together. Are you satisfied with that i 

"Within my heart," answered his partner. ''1 only hope 
Brown won't play the fooL" ^ .^^p^j 

" That will do. So that's settled ; and where will you go now r; 

"To the Parker House, or Parker Tent;' answered Smith, 
with a laugh ; " for the establishment there is rather under a 
cloud iust now. "Will you go too ?" 

" Certainly," replied Siftly. " Though we can t have a hand 
in the play-tables now, I'm so used to the life that I can t do 
without it"; so I'll try this evening if I have any luck m cutting. . 

Up in Pacific Street, in a little house that stood alone and 
was built only of thin posts, with waUs and roof of blue cotton 
already wofully discoloured by the sun lay, stretched on a 
mattress in the corner, and wrapped in a blanket, a sick man, m 
a deep but unquiet sleep. j ^iri 

Near the sick-bed stood a pale, beautiful woman ; and an oia 



94 



APTEE THE PIEE. 



grey-headed man was bending over the patient, and thoughtfully 
feeling his burning wrist. The lady, with clasped hands and 
anxious eyes, looked in his face; and when at last the old 
Doctor shook his head thoughtfu%, she grasped his arm, and 
led him gently to the door. 

"You are not satisfied with his state, I see, Doctor,^' she 
observed, with trembling voice. " Oh, pray conceal nothing 
from me ! You may be sure that the terrible certainty will be a 
thousand times preferable to this horrid suspense — this doubt, 
which seems to kill one by inches." 

"Do not fear, my dear Mrs. Hetson," answered the Doctor, 
heartily. " I certainly don't like his pulse ; but he is terribly 
feverish just now ; and I hope, in fact, that the whole thing will 
end in a fever that we shall soon be able to subdue. It would 
certainly be desirable that we had a better lodging, particularly 
on your account, than this cotton booth, which the first storm of 
rain would utterly ruin." 

"Oh, don't think of me. Doctor!" replied the lady; "only 
promise me that you will cure my poor Trank, and I shall have 
cause to bless your skill." 

" Yes ; but, my dear Mrs. Hetson, I fear his illness is rather 
out of the way of the physician's art, — not a bodily, but a 
mental ailment, proceeding from the imagination. Do you 
know what brought him into this condition ?" 

" Not in the least." 

" And where did you find him ?" 

"The Doctor found him, — a gentleman from England, in 
whose house we took refuge before that, too, fell a prey to the 
fiames, and we were compelled to flee again. My husband had 
hurried back to the Parker House, to try and save a few more of 
our effects. The Doctor found him lying senseless in the road, 
with a crowd staring at him. Luckily he knev/ my husband 
again, had him carried to this little house, which belongs to him, 
and brought me, whom he had left at his brother's house, here to 
him. He has gone out to fetch some medicine ; and I thank 
God for guiding your steps hither. But how did you come to 
hear of our whereabout ?" 

"Through the merest chance — one of those chances which 
seem to govern everything in California, — if, indeed, we admit 
the existence of such a thing as chance in life. I heard from 
some of our late fellow-passengers that they had met Mr. Hetson, 
who had lost his v/ife, and was half mad about it. One of our 
friends had luckily helped to carry him in here, and was kind 
enough to show me the way." 



APTEE THE -EIRE. 



95 



" But how, in Heaven's name, can sucLl an illness as this have 
arisen purely from imagination ?" 

" Perhaps I myself am in fault," said Dr. Rascher. " I saw 
you, while the fire was raging, in the company of the English 
Doctor, who, of course, I did not know, but thought your 
husband was with you. Meeting Mr. Hetson afterwards, I told 
him, in answer to his eager questionings, that I had seen you 
under the protection of a strange gentleman; and I almost 
fear he fancied this man was his rival. That is the only way I 
can account for the situation in which I found him, after what 
you have told me." 

Mrs. Hetson was silent ; but she grew paler than before, and 
sat musing sorrowfully. 

"Poor, poor Prank !" she whispered at last. "And can you 
think of nothing, dear Doctor, that would really cure him— really 
free him from this unhappy delusion?" 

" A permanent cure," said the Doctor, " might be achieved by 
rather a strong remedy — nothing less than a meeting and thorough 
explanation between the two men. ISlow he is fretting about a 
shadow — a mere phantom that threatens him everywhere, but 
is palpable nowhere. When he has once met lum face to 
face " 

" But don't you fear. Doctor, that such a meeting would only 
make him worse ?" 

" To speak frankly, I do not ; though it is impossible to speak 
with certainty as to the result of such a thing. Do you know at 
all where that other gentleman is staying ?" 

"I do not know in the least. I only heard from Prank 
himself, yesterday, that he was in California ; and, after all, it 
may be only a confusion of names. But I fear the worst — the 
very worst — for my husband's health, and even for his life, if 
they should meet while he is in this excited, morbid state. 

"Then you have nothing for it," said the Doctor, "but either 
to leave California by the first ship — and that would be the very 
best course, particularly for you, Mrs. Hetson, — or, if Mr. Hetson 
will not consent to that plan, you should make a journey into 
the mountains so soon as your husband is well enough to under- 
take it without danger. The fresh mountain air, and more than 
that, the feeling of security up there in the wilderness, will con- 
tribute greatly to give him back his old health and strength; and 
when he has once regained those, the ugly dreams will vanish of 
themselves." 

"Doctor!" whispered the sick man, raising himself wearily 
from his couch ; " Doctor, they have fied up the street yonder — 



96 



AFTEE THE TIKE. 



if you — ifyoTitakea horse, you may still overtake him — oh ! 
Jenny, Jenny ! " 

" Erank ! my own Frank ! cried his wife, running to his 
couch and throwing her arms round him ; " I am here — I am 
with you, and will never — never leave you. Don't you know 
your poor Jenny ? " 

" tJp the street, over yonder, Doctor ! " cried the delirious 
man, on whose ear the winning tones of his wife's voice for the 
first time fell unheeded ; " over there ! — help ! help ! Now they 
are round the corner, and you'll lose all trace of them in that 
crowd of people ! " 

" Frank — my dearest Frank — look — see — I am here, am with 
you ! oh, pray do look at me ! " 

" Siftly ! " groaned the poor patient, who had seemed to listen 
to the soft voice for a moment, but had relapsed into his delirious 
fancies. " Siftly ! where is Siftly ? Call him for me, Doctor. I 
must speak to him — and quickly. He knows all the holes and 
corners of this mad place — he — he has also told me of a plan 
for regaining my peace and quiet. Siftly — Siftly — Siftly can — 
help — me ! " and exhausted by the paroxysm, the unhappy man 
fell back, with closed eyes, into the arms of his wife, who let 
him sink back gently on his pillow, where he lay quiet and 
motionless. 

" Who is it for whom he is asking ? " enquired the Doctor, in 
a low voice, again taking the sick man's wrist in his practised 
fingers. 

An old friend of my husband's, whom he met by chance here 
in California," answered Mrs. Hetson. 

''Hem! — then as he cries for him, it would, perhaps, be best to 
bring him here. Perhaps a friend's presence might dispel these 
troubled dreams. Do you know where he is to be found ? " 

" He lived, as far as I know, in the same house with us — the 
' Parker House ' — and seemed to be very well known there, for 
though the house was overcrowded, he got us a room, — ^but 
his exterior was not exactly prepossessing. I — I may be wrong, 
but I hardly think I should feel at my ease in his company." 

" My dear Mrs. Hetson," said the Doctor, with a shrug, as he 
let the sick man's hand fall back upon the coverlet, " from what 
I have seen, as yet, of this country and its inhabitants, it seems 
to me that we must not always judge of people by their appear- 
ance. Under a strange unprepossessing exterior we may often 
meet with a good and feeling heart. I have myself discovered a 
remarkable instance of this. — I'll tell you all about it some day. 
We must therefore not be entirely guided by first impressions. 



ATTER THE FIRE. 



97 



At any rate, I'll inquire for tMs man in the ^Parker Honse/ 
— which these go-ahead Yankees have already built up again, 
by the way, of cotton and canvass ; — and if I think his presence 
will bring any alleviation for our poor patient here, I shall cer- 
tainly bring him with me. Do you agree to this ? " 

" I agree to all you think right, my best friend," answered the 
young wife, warmly; and she seized his hand gratefully. " You 
have shown yourself, both here and on board, such a faithful, 
kind adviser to us, that I " 

" My dear, good lady," said the old man, with a deprecating 
smile ; " I only wish 1 could really do something material for 
you ; but so long as 1 have not done so, I have not earned your 
thanks." 

''And what am I to do with poor Erank ? " asked the poor wife. 
To be all night alone, without help or comfort, — I shall never 
be able to do it ! " 

" Nor must you remain alone ;" said the Doctor ; ''for one can 
never know what may happen ; I have therefore already thought 
of a woman whom I can send here to you, — I mean Mrs. Sie- 
bert, who made the voyage with us. She is certainly a German ; 
but then you know something of the language, — quite enough 
to make yourself understood; and as Mrs. Siebert lives only a 
few doors off from here, and can leave her children under the 
care of a fellow-passenger, besides going every now and then to 
give a look at them herself, she will not refuse my request : 
besides, I have done her several kindnesses on the journey, and 
cured her youngest child of rather a serious illness. The English 
doctor will most likely bring you some quieting medicine for 
your husband ; for we cannot adopt any active measures till the 
nature of the ilhiess has shown itself more plainly. At any rate, 
I shall look in again, in about an hour, and I hope to bring the 
woman I mention, and some medicine with me." 

Poor Mrs. Hetson began pouring out her thanks; but he shook 
his head kindly at her, and hastened out of the house, first to 
speak to Mrs. Siebert, and afterwards to betake himself to the 
"Parker Tent." 

The evening closed in, and in the brilliantly -lighted " Parker 
Tent " there was the hum and bustle of wild, active life. The 
sensuous pictures no longer covered the canvass walls, to arrest 
the idler's attention, nor could the rough posts to which the 
lamps were hung boast the elegance of the burnt "Parker House." 
But the tent was as profusely lit up as ever the hall had been : 
from the orchestra, hastily knocked together with rough boards, 
the music was again deafening the ear ; and round the green- 

H 



98 



APTEH THE FIEE. 



clothed tables thronged the players, -wherever they could find 
standing room. A great many visitors had come, from curiosity 
to see the place in full activity from whose midst a pillar of 
flame had been rising towards the sky so few hours since ; and a 
number of gambling-houses were moreover closed, their pro- 
prietors not being able to find the gold which could alone resus- 
citate tliem, in a day. Play was a necessity for many of the people, 
who knew no other way of passing their evenings ; and thus, as 
many as could obtain standing room, came thronging round the 
tables. 

It has already been mentioned that a space at the back of the 
tent v/as kept separate for the purpose of a dining room. It was 
divided from the gamblers' locale by day by a wooden barrier, 
and in the evening by a long canvass curtain. The returns of 
this part of the establishment barely covered the extra cost of 
preparation ; but it was important to keep the people who were 
going to risk their money at the play-tables from going else- 
where for their supper ; for there was a chance of their being 
fascinated by other tables, in which case they would return no 
more. The champagne corks were flying merrily, and, as the 
proprietor charged at the rate of five dollars a bottle for his 
wine, he indemnified himself pretty effectually for the small 
profits realized at the table d'hote. 

The places at the dining tables were nearly all occupied; and 
as soon as the scattered guests rose, others took their places; so 
that the waiters had their hands full of business. It was not 
till the darkness set in that the stream of guests began to slacken, 
as they adjourned, one by one, to the adjoining compartment to 
try their luck ; and then came the interregnum between dinner 
and supper, in w^hich only single customers appeared, whose 
wants were speedily supplied. 

Our old acquaintance Emile the w^aiter had been, like the 
rest of his fraternity, exceedingly busy all day ; and it was only 
now, as the tide of hungry customers ceased to set in towards 
the table, that he at last found time and opportunity to think of 
his own dinner. 

He fetched his dinner from the kitchen, established himself in 
a vacant chair at the table, poured himself out a glass of wine, 
and began to discuss his meal, keeping an eye upon the entrance, 
ready to make room for any sudden influx of guests w^ho might 
arrive and claim his seat at table, and his attendance. 

A friendly face peei'ed in at one end of the canvass curtain : 
it was Dr. liascher's; and Emile sprang hastily froai his seat, 
with a — 



APTEE THE EIRE. 



" Hallo, Doctor ! how are you ? Did you lose many of your 
things in the fire ?" 

" Before we begin to talk, please resume your seat, and go on 
with your supper, ray dear Baron," said the old physician, 
heartily shaking the waiter's proffered hand, and then thrusting 
him back into his chair. 

"If you would only leave off calling me 'Baron,' " observed 
the youDg man, with a smile, as he took up his knife and fork to 
comply with the Doctor's request. " You must allow that the 
title does not accord very well with my present occupation ; at 
least, it does not, according to our old-world, European ideas. 
Call me Emile, if only out of consideration for the other people 
here ; and if ever we meet again at home, as I devoutly hope we 
shall, you may call me what you will." 

"Well, if you needs must have it so, so be it." 

" And did you lose much by the fire last night ? " 

"No, T am thankful to say. The apparatus for my collections 
had luckily not been landed yet. I had only my little medicine- 
chest, and some necessary clothes with me ; and these I have 
been fortunate enough to save." 

" I am very glad to hear it," said Emile ; " but now," he 
continued, rising from his chair, "I have done, and you will allow 
me to wait on you. You are going to dine, of course — nay, 
pray make no ceremony — I hope we understand each other." 

The old m^an smiled. 

"You must not be angry with an old-fashioned German," he 
said, "if he cannot at once divest hiaiself of his prejudices; 
but as you wish it, my dear Emile, I shall certainly ask you to 
bring me something to eat, for I have not dined to-day. First, 
however, I wanted to ask you for information about a man — he 
is an American, I think — who lived in the 'Parker House,' or at 
least frequented it pretty constantly before the fire." 

" With the greatest pleasure, if I know him. Do you per- 
haps know his name, or could you describe him in any way ?" 

" 1 only know bis name. It is Siftly." 

"Siftly!" repeated the astonished waiter. "What can you 
want with him ?" 

" Do you know him ?" 
1 " Thoroughly. He is one of that worthless set of American 
gamblers, who have already become the bane of this country, 
i Possessing on the whole, a certain amount of education, and 
' with the manners of a man of the world, but utterly reckless as 
to the means he uses for obtaining the one thing he wants, 
namely, gold, and with a face in which every vice seems to have 

H 2 

I 



100 



APTER THE FIRE. 



left its mark, lie has come to this coast ; and he will leave the 
country a rich man^ if he has to rob and murder for it." 

" You draw his portrait in too dark colours." 
I am not describing one man only," said the young man; 
" but, unfortunately, the whole class of men of whom Siftly is 
a worthy representative. It you put any faith in my Californian 
experience, and will take my advice, do not employ that Siftly 
in any business for which you want an honest man." 

Californian experience ! " said the old Doctor, with a smile ; 
"how long have you been here, after all ?" 

" Three months," was the reply; "but you must know that 
there's only one month in a year out here ; or, rather, that in 
California the events of a year are all compressed within a 
month's time. We live excessively fast here; and even the 
interest of money is not reckoned, as in other lands, by the year, 
but by the month. Merchants not unlrequently pay ten and 
twelve per cent, 'per month for capital, and six per cent, per 
month is the lowest tariff ; but then, fortunes are made in a 
few months, or even weeks, and often lost in as many days or 
hours ; and the first m.an who has lived five years here will be 
able to call himself a veteran in age and experience. 

" Well, well ! you may be right," said the old Doctor, with a 
nod ; " and what I have seen during a twenty-four hours' resi- 
dence here, certainly confirms your report. But I may tell you 
for your comfort that I have personally nothing to do with that 
Mr. Siftly — only that one of my fellow-passengers, who is ill, 
has called for him. However, if the man's character be as you 
describe it, I don't think I shall feel inclined to trouble him. 
Yet I should like to see him. Is he here in the tent?" 

" Certainly ; for the atmosphere of the gambling-table suits 
him best. He could no more live without the green cloth and 
the cards than a fish without water. He will be sure to look 
in here to dinner, for he is a subscriber, and has paid in advance. 
So, if you will wait a little longer, you can afterwards contem- 
plate him at your leisure ; or, if you like, I'll go with you into 
the card-tent, and point him out — only the crowd is rather thick 
there." 

" I've time to spare," said the Doctor ; " and, as I want to 
dine, I can do two things at once. So, please my dear Ba — I 
mean Emile — get me something to eat." 

Emile smiled and bowed, placed a knife, fork, and plate before 
the guest, with a most professional air, and left the tent to pro- 
cure him what he wanted. 

The orchestra, separated only by the thin canvass partition from 



APTEB, THE FIRE. 



101 



the table, had continued its peculiar musical strains all this time ; 
but the guest who had been some time exposed to its effects at 
last became perfectly indifferent — just as a man in whose ears a 
watermill has been clattering and gurgling for a time, at last 
becomes hardened to the sound, until at length he only heeds it 
in so far as it makes him raise his voice to be heard above it 
when he speaks. 

So it was with Dr. Hascher : he sat waiting for his supper, and 
thinking of his patient, Hetson, while the chaos of banging and 
braying sounds filled his ear, until, all at once, the " music " 
stopped. Then he rose from his chair with a start, and became 
suddenly conscious how disagreeably loud the sound of min- 
strelsy had been. 

" Thank Heaven it is over ! " was his fervent ejaculation. " At 
least I shall be able to eat my supper in peace novv.'^ 

The low, quivering tones of a violin were now heard, after the 
other instruments had been silent for a minute or two, and the 
Doctor fidgeted impatiently on his chair. But the look of im- 
patience was soon smoothed away from his face, and gave way to 
one of pleased astonishment, as he listened to the notes, which 
swelled more and more gradually on the ear, till at last he lost 
sight of everything around him, and did not even notice that 
Emile had brought his supper, and was standing behind his chair. 

Certainly, the operation had been very silently conducted, 
and Emile himself seemed to have forgotten everything around 
him in listening to the plaintive tones of the wonderful in- 
strument. 

Other guests had meanwhile come into the tent, and taken their 
places at the table ; but they remained unnoticed, and the two 
men almost held their breath as they listened to the melodious 
strains. 

" Emile ! What the deuce are you at ? Emile ! " — shouted a 
rough voice — "hallo there ! has the fiddling out there made you 
so drowsy that you're taking a nap as you stand? "What's 
in the larder ? I'm as hungry as a wolf, and have scarcely had 
a bit to eat all day long." 

Emile started as if he had been stung, and threw an angry 
glance at the speaker. But his indignation was wasted on the 
hungry man, who was deep in the study of the bill of fare, till, 
having arrived at a satisfactory result, he threw it down, and 
ordered — 

" A plate of roast beef and potatoes — and after that I'll try a 
slice of the grizzly bear ; — but look sharp about it, please, for I've 
no time to spare." 



102 



AJTER THE EIRE. 



The Doctor, too, had been roused from his dream by the rough 
interruption, and looked at the new comer, who had thrown his 
poncho over the back of the chair, thrust his hat off his forehead, 
without entirely removing it, and sat with both his elbows on the 
table, waiting for the supper he had ordered. 

" That's Siftly," whispered Emile, bending down to him for a 
moment, and then moving away to fulfil his duties as waiter. 

"Oh, thafs he?" muttered the Doctor, forgetting even fhe 
melodious playing in this new object of interest. "Why, then, 
I think the Earon and Mrs. Hetson are right. I don't like the 
look of his face at all ; for though he looks manly enough, with 
his great black beard, his little dark eyes have an evil look 
gleaming out under his bushy eyebrows. He looks resolute 
enough, by the by, to make his way in this mad place ; but I 
should very much doubt if he's the kind of man to do my patient 
any good." 

Siftly, who either did not see, or, if he saw, did not care to notice 
the strange old gentleman under the lamp, nodded to Emile, who 
came in with the supper, and then fell to with his knife and fork, 
apparently intent only on satisfying his hunger. 

The violin playing had in the mean time ceased, and Emile, 
leaning over the back of Dr. Rascher's chair, whispered, — 

" Well, how do you like him ? " 

" Not at all ! " answered the Doctor, readily. " You are quite 
right ; that man has a dangerous look, and does not seem in the 
habit of looking any one straight in the face. But, tell me, who 
is that remarkable violinist who handles his instrument in such a 
wonderful manner ? and what unhappy star can have brought 
him into such a confounded Californian gambling-hell as this ? " 

" Yes, indeed, it was an unhappy star," said Emile, with a more 
serious look than the Doctor had yet seen on his face ; you 
will say so, indeed, when you hear that a young girl plays that 
vioKn." 

" A girl ! " cried the Doctor, turning round in sudden wonder. 

" A Spanish girl," said Emile, " whose father seems to belong 
to the higher ranks among his countrymen, by his appearance 
and manners ; but the miserable green tables have made him 
what he is — an unhappy, inveterate gambler, who is dragging his 
child with himself headlong to destruction." 

" You make me curious to see them," said the Doctor. 

" Here they come," whispered Emile ; and if Dr. Eascher 
had not been at once absorbed in watching the new comer, he 
coulJ not have failed to notice the change in Emile's face. But 
he had eyes only for the corner where the sailcloth curtain was 



103 



hung up as a door, and where Manuela bow appeared, dressed as 
usual in black, with her beautiful countenance half concealed, as 
she pressed close to her father's side. 

" Hallo, Den ilonez ! " shouted Siftly, familiarly, in his few 
words of broken Spanish, as he caught sight of father and 
daughter — "sta bueno — aqui — aqui esta— baijg it, I don't know 
how to say it in Spanish ; but here's room here. Come and sit 
down with the senorita." 

Don E.onez, however, seemed either to have overheard the 
invitation, or to be unwilling to accept it, for he only bowed 
sHghtly to the American, on whom Manuela did not even bestow 
a look, and went to sit down with his daughter at the opposite 
side of the board. 

But Siftly would not so easily give up the chance of a conver- 
sation. He again struck in with his broken Spanish, and tried 
to draw the girl into a chat, by praising her violin playing. 
Still, Manuela would not answer, and did not even look up from 
her plate ; in fact, she so decidedly repelled every advance, that 
the American at last threw an evil glance at her, set his teeth 
firmly together, and fell to stabbing the roll of bread before him 
with his knife. 

Emile had by this time stepped up to them, and there was a 
faint flush on the maiden's cheek, as she felt rather than saw his 
presence. But she mastered her emotion, and turning to the 
young man, she said in a low but kindly voice, in her native 
Spanish : 

J^enor, you have been kind to us several times within these - 
last days, by letting my father have refreshments here without 
immediate payment." 

" Senorita," answered the waiter, whose face had become scar- 
let in a moment, "that is — that is a thing which concerns my 
principal alone." 

The girl looked at him with an inquiring glance ; it was the 
first time she had raised her eyes since she came into the 
room. Then she shook her head, and resuiued in a not nnfriendly 
tone, — 

" I know that Monsieur Eiganlt gives credit to no one, and 
that if any of his assistants provide anything without immediate 
payment, it is done at their own risk. We have, therefore, to 
acknowledge your kindness. This little sum will just cover our 
debt. Take it, and thank you." 

" Senorita," began Emile, still redder than before, and without 
putting out his hand for the proffered money ; but the girl looked 
at him with eyes of such grave astonishment, that he could 



104 



AETEE THE FIEE. 



object no longer. He took the money, and said, "I hope, 
senorita, you have not let this trifling debt disquiet you. You 
may believe me, that it was a great pleaure to me to be useful to 
you for a few days." 

The girl did not reply, but only bowed slightly to him, and 
resumed her seat. 

In the mean time another waiter had brought the supper 
ordered by Emile for Don B,onez and his daughter, and they sat 
in silence at their comfortless meal. Doctor Eascher had an 
opportunity of looking at the young girl, and was obliged to 
acknowledge that he had never in his lite seen a more beautiful 
countenance. Moreover, she was at the most only about seven- 
teen years old ; and if she was at all conscious of her position, 
thought the Doctor, how terrible it must seem to her to be 
placed here among the gamblers — the refuse of the country — as 
a decoy to lure customers to their tables. But perhaps she did 
not feel that in all its bitterness, thought the good-natured Doc- 
tor — and then she could bear her fate with a lighter heart. He 
did not know with what scalding tears the poor girl's pillow was 
wet every night. 

Almost involuntarily his eyes wandered to the American, who 
sat opposite. No two faces could show a wider difference in 
expression than the countenance of the girl and of the man. 
Margaret and Mephistopheles— the comparison occurred involun- 
tarily on seeing them together, — personified innocence on the one 
hand, and wild lawless passion on the other. 

At last Siftly seemed to tire of gazing at the beautiful form 
opposite him — for suddenly he bent over the table, and whis- 
pered : 

"Manuela!" 

Still the girl answered not a syllable, but continued looking at 
the table straight before her. Don Alonzo, as her father was 
generally called, had risen from his chair and gone towards the 
sideboard to pay for their supper with the money he had just 
received from his daughter. With a muttered curse the Yankee 
rose ; and Doctor Rascher could hardly believe his eyes, when he 
saw him go round the table, towards the place where the maiden 
sat alone. 

Manuela had observed the movement and its intention, and 
looked slily from under her long eyelashes as his hated figure 
approached her, but without stirring from her chair. Now the 
American stood close behind her, bent down his face towards 
hers, and putting his arm round her waist, said, laughingly, in 
English, of which he knew she understood at least a few words. 



AFTEU THE FIRE. 



105 



" Come, my timid little birdie, it's all of no use ; we are two 
of the same trade, — ^you play in tiie gallery, and I in the room ; 
and " 

" Senor ! " cried the girl, starting up from her chair, and free- 
ing herself from his grasp with a look of deadly hate. But the 
libertine, heated with wine and passiou, was not to be got rid of 
so easily. Seizing her again in his iron grasp, and drawing her 
to him in spite of all her struggles, he cried, with a roar of 
jeering laughter, — 

" Now, I just want to see if this little black nightingale won't 
at least give me a kiss ; and " 

He got no further in his speech, for his eloquence met with a 
sudden and unexpected check. Emile, the waiter, had, either 
by accident or design, taken a pile of plates from the table just 
at the moment the Yankee made his impudent attack on the 
girl. Quick as lightning, he swung round and hit Siftly such a 
blow on the head with one of the heavy plates, that the platter 
was shivered in a thousand pieces ; and the Yankee let the girl 
go, and staggered back. If the felt hat had not deadened the 
force of the blow, it might have been dangerous as well as painful. 

— d rascal !" hissed Siftly between his clenched teeth ; and 
he pulled out his revolver from his breast. All who stood near 
started aside, for random shots from such weapons had often 
wounded spectators of quarrels during the last few weeks ; and 
no one cared to receive a bullet merely by accident. 

Emile alone remained where he was, pulled a similar weapon 
from within his waistcoat, and only stepped aside a pace or two 
from Manuela, to protect her from any possible danger from a 
chance shot. Under any other circumstances, he would not have 
waited long for Siftly's fire, for the latter was not the man to 
receive an insult without a deadly answer. But, in a moment, 
the thought of his partner of the gaming-table flashed through 
his brain ; if he wounded his adversary, and got thus detained 
here only a single day, he knew very well the other would make 
use of the time to be off with the money. He vehemently sus- 
pected him of harbouring some design of the kind. It was there- 
fore necessary he should defer his vengeance to some more con- 
venient season. Besides, his adversary would not run away. 
So, pushing back the revolver into his belt, he went up to Emile, 
and said, in a threatening voice, — 

" Sir, you have had the assurance to give me a blow — and you 
struck me from behind. No man would do that who was not 
a coward. I hope you will give me satisfaction, whenever I 
demand it." 



105 



AFTER THE FISE. 



" With pleasure/' answered the young man, with a langh of 
defiance. " I should look on the blow I gave you with the plate 
merely as a punishment for your rascally attack upon the young 
lady; but the word ^coward ' you have applied to me deserves a 
separate punishment ; and I therefore request you to name me 
a tinie to-morrow morning, when I can chastise you as you 
deserve." 

Siftly ground his teeth, and again mechanically grasped his 
revolver ; but he felt his hands were tied, for he could not risk 
the loss of the gold, to acquire which he had ventured so I'ar. 

" Don't be afraid," lie whispered, hoarsely, to his adversary ; 
"I shall appoint you a time, you may be very sure; earlier, perhaps, 
than is agreeable to you. And you, senorita," he continued 
roughly, turning to the young girl, who had been a trembling 
witness of the scene — "'if you are so terribly cold, and so high 
and mighty, and are, moreover, under the efficient protection of 
an eating-house waiter, could you not ask your father to pay me 
the six ounces he has owed me since this morning ?" 

"V/hat does he say ?" asked Don Alonzo, who had come up 
at the noise of the quarrel, and stood with one arm supporting 
his daughter. Manuela had become pale as death, and, nestling 
close to him, she asked, in a voice that trembled with anxiety, — 

" Father, for Heaven's sake ! does he speak the truth ? Do 
you owe him money ? — such a sum as that ?" 

The Spaniard did not answer her question; but he flushed 
red up to the forehead, stepped forward to the American, and 
said, — 

"You shall be paid, senor; I give you my word for it; only 
have patience till to-morrow evening." 

"Yery sorry, senor," grumbled Siftly, who had only under- 
stood in the whole speech the one word manana, "to-morrov/" — 
" but play-debts should never remain standing over night ; and, 
as I find that my liberality is not acknowledged, I don't see v/hy 
I should make an exception now." 

" If you please, sir, will you take the trouble to step to the 
pay-table yonder," interrupted Emile, turning again to his adver- 
sary; "you will receive your money there. 1 owe Don Alonzo 
about the same sum, and fancy he will be glad to discharge his 
debt to you through me." 

Siftly looked at him like a demon ; but then he answered 
laughing, — 

"It's all the same, so long as I get the money; I don't car 
from whom it comes, or out of whose pocket." 

"Eather, don't allow it," whispered Manuela, in earnes 



A^TEPv THE FIRE. 



107 



entreaty ; " the stranger is jiaying tlie money for you. He did 
not speak the truth when he said he was in your debt." 

The old Spaniard stood motionless and irresolute. Proud and 
noble as he had once been, the poison of the gambling-room and 
the greed of gold had deadened or numbed all his feeling of 
honour and independence ; and he only whispered to his 
daughter, — 

"Fear nothing, my own darling ; I shall pay the man his money 
to-morrow ; and I would rather pay him than that lascal of au 
American — a curse upon him !" 

Emile had, in the mean time, gone to the pay-table with the 
man whom he now considered his deadly enemy. The proprietor 
made no objection to paying the sum required, for his waiter had 
a much larger amount standing to his credit. Siftly took the 
gold, gave a hasty glance at it, put it in his pocket, vfent back 
to his chair, took his poncho, and left the dining tent without a 
look at any of the others. 

" Monsienr Emile,'"* said the proprietor to the young man, 
with whom he always spoke in Erench, " you are beginning to 
play foolish tricks. Instead of cultivating the goodwill of my 
guests and my plates, you beat the latter about the heads of the 
former ; and I am almost afraid that you're throwing away your 
money in a very thoughtless manner." 

" Mon Capitaine,'' answered the yonng man gaily, " neither 
the guest nor the plate was a great loss, for the polish was pretty 
well v»'orn olf both of them ; and, so far as my money is con- 
cerned, I don't think I ever laid out a hundred dollars to better 
purpose." 

" Yery good — it's your affair, of conrse," said the little Erench- 
man, writing ofp the amount against Emile's account ; " but if — • 
though I hardly believe it — you v/ill take a piece of advice, I 
would counsel you to keep clear of this gambler. People of 
that kind never forgive or forget ; and instead of being thankful 
to you for his money, which he would otherwise never have seen 
again, I am afraid he will do you some bad turn, for which I 
should be very sorry." 

" I am not afraid of him," said Emile, laughing. 

" So much the worse for you," replied the Erenchman. " Those 
scamps are always dangerous — and it's all the worse here, because 
the Americans are masters, and look on ns foreigners as inter- 
lopers. But I have warned you, and suppose my warning will 
have the usual fate of unasked advice." 

Emile bowed to him with a smile, and went back to the Doctor, 
who had been a silent but by no means an u'ainterested spectator 



108 



AFTER THE FIRE. 



of the whole scene. But before lie could cross over to him, the 
Spaniard came up, seized his hand, and said, — 

" Senor, I thank you for your kindness. I shall never forget 
the service you have done me, and you may be assured that your 
money is safe. I only wish I could show you, in any way, how 
deeply I feel indebted to you." 

" You can do that, dear sir," answered Emile, with far more 
earnestness than he had yet shown, — " and without making any 
great sacrifice." 

" But how ? " asked Don Alonzo, in some surprise. 

"By leaving of^ playing," answered the young German. 

" Sir, you do not know " 

" I know that you play at a disadvantage against those ras- 
cals," answered Emile. "Against false cards and false play, 
against their gambler's skill and gambler's tricks, you can do 
nothing, and the money you lay on their table is lost without 
remedy." 

''I thank you," said the Spaniard, smiling. "I shall remem- 
ber your advice, and play more guardedly in future." 
" But still you will play ? " 

Don Alonzo made no answer, but bowed with a courteous 
gesture, and left the tent with his daughter, to take her back to 
the orchestra. 

Tell me, my dear Baron," cried the old Doctor, with a droll 
look, — "for you must really allow me to give you your old title, 
as you have so completely forgotten your part as waiter, — is it 
your general custom to serve your guests in this way ? — for if so, 
X really must look about for another dining-house." 
Emile looked rather embarrassed. 

" You are right," he replied. " I should not have laid hands 
on the vulgar fellow, for a quarrel with him can bring one no 
good ; but I lost my temper, and for a moment I forgot myself ; 
moreover, the lesson can't hurt him, and he had richly deserved 
it." 

"Excellent, excellent!" said the Doctor, nodding his kind 
old head. " So these are the fruits of your three months' — or, 
according to your mode of reckoning, your three years' — experi- 
ence in California. You lay your life in the hands of a bully, 
and your money in those of a gambler; then you've only 
one thing left — your heart, namely; and may one ask where 
you have deposited that ? In some safe and proper quarter, I 
hope.'; 

Emile blushed scarlet, and was going to make some warm 
reply, when Monsieur Bigault called him by name. 



A BIED's-EYE Y]ETV^. 109 , 

The waiter had, of course, to answer the summons, which 
appeared to come very opportunely. The Doctor rose, paid 
another of the waiters for his dinner, and left the tent with 
rather an anxious face, to take another look at his patient. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

A bird's-eye YIEW. 

Next morning, at daybreak, a little steamer, called the Gold- 
Jis/i, with a number of passengers on board, pushed off from the 
long pier at San Francisco. 

She was rather a slow-going boat, and the early hour for her 
departure had been chosen with a view of snapping up the pas- 
sengers who were in haste to be gone, and who were generally 
unconscious that they had been cheated, till the boat which started 
later overtook them on the way. 

Scarcely had the Goldfish taken her departure, when the Golden 
Gatey 2i steamer bound for Stockton-on-the-San-Joaquin, came 
puffing up with a smoking chimney, and began ringing her bell. 

A long thin man, who seemed to carry something very weighty 
under his threadbare cloak, came striding with rapid steps down 
the pier. Eor a minute he stood by the plank placed as a bridge 
between the steamer and the shore, and looked sharply to see if 
any one was following him ; then he hurried on board, and was 
seen no more. A few minutes afterwards the last bell rang, and 
the boat was just going to put off, when a little troop of Germans 
came running down to the pier, gesticulating from afar off, and 
waving handkerchiefs frantically, as signals that they were coming 
on board. 

They were men of different ages and aspects ; but all were 
alike in haste except one. This worthy, who held a long pipe 
between his lips, followed his companions at a much more deli- 
berate pace, looking about him coolly as he came on, as if satisfied 
that the boat would never start without him. 

Of course the captain of the steamer stopped, in order not to 
lose these passengers. The price paid, exclusive of provisions, 
for the passage to Stockton — which usually lasted about sixteen 
or twenty hours — ^was no less than thirty dollars a head ; so 



110 



A BIHD S-EYE VIEW. 



that these six extra passengers paid the whole expense of the 
trip. 

The party had all got safely on board, and even the " nigger," 
whom they had hired to drag their baggage on a hand-cart, had 
come trundling over the planks behind ihem, but still the deli- 
berate passeiiger did not hurry himself; and though he quickened 
his pace, he did so with some hesitation, fearing evidently to lose 
his dignity by any appearance of undue haste. 

" Counsellor, you will certainly be left behind," cried one of 
the passengers, Mr. llufner, looking aoxiously at him from the 
steamer. But the Counsellor never gave himself the trouble to 
answer, but continued to advance, looking to the right and left, 
and sending forth blue clouds of his German kanaster into the 
clear morning air. 

"Go ahead!" shouted the captain to his sailors; "if that 
fellow has so much time on his hands, w^e won't spoil his sport. 
But stay — hold on — there's some one behind him who seems in a 
mighty hurry ; it's a pity — I should have liked to leave the lazy 
loafer with his long pipe on the wdiarf." 

Behind the Counsellor there came a man in a Californian 
poncho, who was beckoning eagerly to the captain to wait for 
him. But when he had come close enough to read the placard 
hung out at the side, purporting that the steamer W'as going " to 
Stockton," he slackened his pace. 

''Well, sir; coming with us to the mines?" asked the 
captain. 

" Do you put in at Sausalita ?" 

The captain shook his head, and gave his people the signal to 
" go ahead," just as the Counsellor stepped deliberately on 
board. 

"The Sausalita boat has just started. There it goes, over 
yonder," said the captain, pointing to the Goldfish. 

" The devil ! " roared the man in the poncho ; " I thought the 
first boat started at six in the morning." 

"At half-past Jive the first boat to Sacramento. Go ahead!" 
said the captain. 

The man stood for a minute undecided, stamping angrily on 
the ground. 

"D'ye v/ant to go to Sausalita, sir?" cried a sharp-looking 
boy, turning towards him. " The Jenni/ Lind, yonder, will start 
in ten minutes, and will overtake the old Goldfish before ever she 
rubs her sides against the shore." 

" Thank ye, my lad," answered the stranger, and he tossed a 
dollar to his informant. The boy caught it, kicked out his leg 



A bihd's-eye view. 



Ill 



by way of thanks, and pocketed tlie coin. The Goldeii Gate^ 
which was not going to touch at Sausalita, shoved off ; and out 
of the cabin window, with his face hidden behind his outstretched 
arm, with only his little close-set eyes peering through an aper« 
ture, Mr. Smith looked with a glance of cunning, mischievous 
satisfaction at the pier, where stood his worthy companion and 
fellow-conspirator, Mr. William Siftly. 

No sooner \ras the landing-place free, than the little Jennij 
Lincl came steaming up ; and, after the bell had rung three times 
the little craft followed the Goldfish towards Sausalita. 

Over the Eastern Mountains — the goal where centred the 
hopes of thousands — the sun had in the mean time risen, and 
threw its light upon the flashing bay, already alive with boats of 
every kind. 

What a difference had one single year made ! What gigantic 
strides would progress not make in the next twelve months ! A 
year before, there was a little town of huts built of unbnrnt 
brick, little more than a straggling village, with only an insig- 
nificant trade in hides and tallow, and a depot for fresh provisions 
and water to supply chance whale-ships : and now what a different 
scene ! 

Clustering side by side, as in a great fair, tent on tent and 
booth on booth, interspersed at intervals by a wooden house or 
two, as if newly risen out of the ground, stood the strangers' 
town, San Erancisco. Along the whole shore of the bay, the 
wonderful city extended in the form of a half-moon ; and wherever 
the spectator looked, canvass for new tents fluttered in the wind, 
and men were hammering and ramming posts into the ground, 
adding fresh cells to the wonderful teeming hive. 

Already the want of space began to be felt. Up the steep 
heights it climbed — the restless, busy, human swarm, and took 
piece after piece from the old rock with pickaxe and crowbar, to 
win room for another hut, for one more tent ; and over the bay 
there was building of long, wharf -like piers ; and even the ships 
that lay at anchor were changed into dwelling-places and ware- 
houses ; and a year afterwards these ships lay in the middle of a 
town that had been built out all around them. 

What a bustle and hurry of work everywhere — on the water, 
on the land, — with axes, spades, and oars. Like very ants, the 
tiny figures over on the shore tugged and dragged heavy carts 
and waggons of goods — food for the next fire — into their 
dwellings. 

Where is the site of the fire that laid part of the city in ashes 
only four-and-twenty hours ago ? Do you see that large space 



112 



A bied's-eye view. 



where the tents look white, and the wooden houses are new? 
That is where the fire raged. The people have had four-and- 
twenty hours' time, and the place is bnilt over, as yon see. 

And mast on mast rose along the wharf of our new city — mast 
on mast, as close as the ships might be without coming into col- 
lision as they swung round, when the tide rose or ebbed. Here 
a three-master, which, with crowded deck and flapping sails just 
loosed, has rounded Clark's Point, and, half frightened at the 
crowd around, lets down its anchor with a rattle and a splash, 
and then scrags round to the flowing tide as if anxious to be off 
to sea again without a moment's loss of time ; — there a brig, with 
labourers, hired at high wages by the day, unloading her cargo — 
for the crew have all deserted long ago ; — and yonder, again, a 
schooner bringing a cargo of fresh vegetables and plenty of gold- 
seeking adventurers from the Sandwich Islands. 

On all these ships there is life and motion ; and so they are in 
keeping with the rest of the picture. Eut the whole centre of 
the grove of masts looks as if the plague-wind had blown over it, 
and swept the crews into a watery grave. 

No sail on the yards, no watch on deck, and even between the 
bulwarks nothing left but what is fastened by clamps and nails. 
Deserted and useless the ships lie there on the still, waveless 
water of the bay, and their naked masts wait in vain for the 
crews, who have long since betaken themselves with pickaxe and 
spade to the mountains. 

Sailors are in general a light, easy-going race of men, who live 
only for the present moment, for the next day may bring death 
with it for them. It was hardly to be expected that they would 
remain on board their ships, to receive scanty pay for hard work, 
when a short march would bring them into the region of fabulous 
wealth. They all deserted, when the anchor touched the ground, 
as soon as an opportunity came. The captains would sometimes 
keep their wages from them that they had earned on their pas- 
sage out — perhaps fifty or a hundred dollars. But what cared 
the sailors for that ! a single shovelful of earth might yield them 
as much ; and in many ships the captain and mates had followed 
the example of the crew, and left the unfortunate ship to its 
fate. 

What was to be done here with great three-masted ships ? 
While all was yet hope and excitement, where were people to be 
found to navigate the vessels home ? Who, having once got 
there, wanted to quit California ? 

The little schooners, with a light draught of water, which had 
ventured round Cape Horn, met with a good reward for their 



A BIED S-EYE VIEW. 



113 



daring*; for tliey were required to carry provisions, wood for 
building, tools, and, in fact, all kinds of mining requisites, up the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to the rising towns of Sacra- 
mento and Stockton. These schooners could pay their crews at 
the rate of eight dollars a day ; freight and passage were reckoned 
on a corresponding scale, and the owners grew rich. 

Everywhere in the bay little steamers were being built to 
supply the pressing demand for such vessels. Steam -engines -tiau. 
been brought as merchandise on board large ships by the specu- 
lative Yankees, and little cutters and even whaleboats had been 
arranged as steamers, the whaleboats being sawn asunder, length- 
ened, and provided with a broad deck to carry the light engine, 
j Nobody stopped to calculate how long these vessels would hold 
I together : three or four passages they would certainly make ; and 
I if they afterwards smashed, who cared ? — they would have an- 
i swered the owner's purpose, and paid him two or three hundred 
! per cent, on his investment. The risk of human life was not 
taken into consideration at all; for human life was about the 
cheapest thing that could be got in California. 

And what a rushing and seething of this same human life there 
was! In the bay formed by the crescent- shaped shore around 
San Erancisco, between Clark's and Kincon's points, were crowds 
of these little steamers, some lying alongside of the anchored 
ships, whose cargoes they received ; others communicating v/ith 
the shore by means of rowboats and lighters, taking in, at 
express speed, cargoes for the mines. Quick work was, indeed, 
the order of the day ; for though the workmen got enormous 
wages, they had to show a tremendous day's labour. The old 
lounger from the continent of Europe, who likes to work with 
, a pipe in his mouth, which he stops every now and then to light 
? with tinder that won't burn, or to take a pinch of snufp out of a 
■( box that takes five minutes to open and as many to shut, would 
f( be at a terrible discount here ; for in California the work passes 
^ merrily from hand to hand. The man who rov/ed a boat had to 
pull till the oars bent double, and the bow cut a vv^hite streak of 
foam as it bounded along. 

Towards the northern arm of the bay the water was white 
with sails ; schooners and small brigs, whose light draught en- 
abled them to clear the Sacramento bar, and numberless open 
boats, keeled or flat-bottomed, with a goodly number of miners 
on board. The arm towards the left stretches out to the Golden 
Gate, and five or six ships are coming in laden with new arrivals 
— gold-seekers every one ; the more reason, therefore, that 
I those who have a day or two's start should use their time before 



114 



A Eir.D's-ETE VIE"^. 



these new-comers find tlieir way to tlie mines. So many thousands 
have already travelled that road, that there's a doubt whether 
they will fmd room to work even now. 

Aided by the wind, and by dint of hard pulling, they have 
passed the southern point, and have now the advantage of the 
tide, which rolls the vrater southward towards San Francisco and 
San Jose, and eastward into Carquines Bay, into which flov/ the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. 

Wonderfully lies the new world spread around them : to the 
rif^ht the naked rocks, with thin grass growing here and there, 
with numerous herds grazing upon them ; to the left the more 
wooded shore, with several charming creeks and inlets not yet 
overrun by the swarm of population. What should they do 
there ? — there was no gold in the creeks. And yet many an eye 
lingered with pleasure on the leafy shade, which at least gave 
evidence that all California had not the rocky, desolate aspect 
of the coast. 

Eut the [>assengers are not long absorbed in contemplation of 
natural beauties. What is that yonder, on the high ridge of 
rock looking like a little statue carved out of ivory ? — It is a 
horseman riding along the ridge, with his flying poncho, his 
horse's head thrown back as it gallops on, and even its slender 
legs sharply defined against the blue sky beyond. 

He is a Californian ; perhaps he has come for the first time in 
many months from the interior towards the coast to look after 
his cattle roaming here in wild freedom. When he came last, he 
saw an uninhabited wilderness ; now he sees a busy town in the 
distance, and a bay covered with ships and boats. Well may he 
rein in his horse, and gaze with v/onder at the unexpected 
scene. 

Over on the left bank, that, almost hidden beneath the over- 
shadowing trees, leaves only a narrow ledge of wet rock, almost 
covered by the rising tide, a number of seals were gambolling; 
tumbling over and over in the warm sunshine, and every now 
and then rolling, with a splash, into the clear soft flood. 

Here and there a boat sought to approach them, and a bullet 
occasionally whistled over the water in their direction ; but the 
distance was too great. The seals perked up their heads, and 
looked with their bright eyes at the balls, as they went dancing 
over the water ; and continued their gambols till some enemy 
approached them more closely. Then they would scutter away 
into the Vv^ater, give a last mocking look at the bearded foes, and 
dive down far out of the reach of danger. 

I^ow the bay grows narrower in the direction of the Strait of 



A bied's-eye view. 



115 



Carquines ; but that is good for the craft that have got thus 
far. The tide is at the highest, and while the water stands, they 
can still make use of the wind which will carry them through 
the strait into the wider bay ; but when the ebb sets in, such a 
volume of water pours back through the narrow inlet, that sail- 
ing-ships cannot make head against it. 

Three schooners are pressing, side by side, through the narrow 
passage. Their decks are covered with piles of goods, sacks of 
corn, barrels of salt beef, tiers of planks and posts, piled up 
higher than the bulwarks ; and on the top of the freight the 
passengers crouch as best they may. 

At the agent's house in San Erancisco, all kinds of conveni- 
ences had been promised them when they paid their high pas- 
sage-money ; and now there v^as not even a level place on which 
they could lie down, no protection against the dew at night, no 
corner in which they could sit to eat their cold provisions. 
But "who cares was their motto. It was California! To- 
morrow or next day they would be in the mountains, and there 
lay the gold ! 

Here the bay grows broader, but that does not take away 
from the crowded appearance of the surface. Two little towns 
lie here opposite to one another, named from famous cities on 
the Adriatic and the Atlantic, — Yenetia and New York. 

There, to the left, lies Yenetia — a caricature of the ancient city 
of the Doges, on naked yellow sand, with bright-green patches 
of grass between ; in the background a little willow thicket, and 
scattered all around a motley collection of white wooden houses, 
looking like a box of Nuremberg toys, scattered about at random, 
and set up by a child on a square -pattern table -cloth. Nothing- 
was w^anting to complete the resemblance— not even the church 
with its little stunted tower. 

That to the right is New York. It is like the reflection of 
Yenetia seen in a looking-glass. 

Eut all this is only a beginning. The huts have been scattered, 
like reeds, broad-cast over the sandy ground ; and as they have 
taken root, so will the real town grow up swiftly and certaiuly 
before a year is over. 

Stern and quiet, with their yards braced round, three American 
men-of-war lay at anchor. By their sharp clean build, the scru- 
pulous neatness in every rope and spar, they may be identified 
at a glance, — and the crews on board are watched sharply enough 
to make desertion a thing impossible. 

There they lie, in their dark iron strength, showing their rows 
of shinins: teeth ; and the sailors look wistfully over the hara- 

I 2 



116 



A eied's-eye view. 



mock-nettings at the boats sliooting past them towards the 
golden land. 

The shores here are everywhere low and flat, and only in the 
background do the green mountains rise. Now we are nearing 
the mouths of the two chief rivers of California, of which the 
Sacramento from the north runs into the bay through wooded 
valleys, the San Joaquin from the south through a rushy marsh. 

The Sacramxcnto is hidden by a background of pine and cedar 
forests, and in the foreground by oak woods ; but the San Joa- 
quin, so soon as it emerges from the mountains, goes twisting 
and winding, like a serpent, through the wide-spread marsh. At 
along distance may be descried the little tent-town of Stockton; 
but the river goes meandering on its course, sometimes bending 
to the right, at others to the left, and then again often shooting 
straight on, seeming suddenly to have changed its mind, and to 
be about to run rignt back into the mountains whence it came. 
It seems somehow to have got among the rushes, and entirely to 
have lost its way. 

And what crowding and pushing on the watery highway ! 
Steamers are conthiually meeting in places where they can 
scarcely pass each other in the narrow channel; and brisk- 
looking schooners and cutters are trying to force their way 
between, with outspread sails, where they can get into a favour- 
able curve — in other places with poles and ropes — while some 
have anchored to wait for the turning of the tide. The row- 
boats have the best of it ; they can thread their way gaily through 
the struggling mass ; and the rowers bend more and more lustily 
to their oars as they leave craft after craft behind them. Here 
is the newly-built town of Stockton at last. There is no mis- 
taking its family likeness to San Erancisco, though it is but a 
younger sister, or rather a daughter, of the last-named city, — a 
collection of tents and wooden booths, if possible more airily 
built than the San Erancisco houses, roofed with canvas, but 
chok^full of property from the mines. All the population seems 
rushing and crowding to leave the place ; — you see, it is only a 
day's march to the mountains. 

Here the land-transport begins ; for while San Erancisco 
depends almost entirely on its bay and creeks, and a heavy 
waggon is almost deemed a curiosity, here, on the contrary, the 
chief exertion seems to be to carry what the boats have brought 
thus far further into the mountains, by cart, packhorse, or by 
main force. 

The heavy waggons of the western farmers, who have come 
across the Rocky Mountains, have found their way hither, and are 



A bird's-eye view. 



117 



going back to the mines hearlly laden, and drawn by two or three 
yoke of oxen. Long droves of mules are tethered everywhere ; 
and Mexicans gallop through the streets, or toil in the sweat of 
their brow among sacks and barrels, fastening the burdens on 
their patient beasts. 

Thus train after train leaves the town. Here a company of 
gold- washers, who have clubbed together to hire a waggon for 
their baggage and tools, and lounge alongside in their shirt- 
sleeves, singing and joking - there a conclave of muleteers with 
coloured poncho on shoulders, the " madrina " with the tinkling 
bell round their neck in front. 

Here a gold- washer, who has not money to pay for having his 
little property carried for him, comes, with his " swag" on one 
shoulder, and his pickaxe, spade, and gun on the other, panting 
along on his solitary way ; there a couple of horsemen — pedlars 
or gamblers — go trotting along the dusty road on reeking 
ponies. 

But, look where you will, there are only men to be seen, — 
wild, bearded fellows, with the rough impress of the wood and 
the wilderness upon them ; or if, indeed, a long, flaunting petti- 
coat is seen at rare intervals, the wearer does not belong to a 
class from which you would choose your associates. 

It was no country for women and children at that time ; there 
were no hearths and homes prepared for them. The inhabitants 
had to force their daily bread from the reluctant soil, and ta 
defend their lives from hourly peril as they did so. The mountains 
were not the place for women then. 

And yet these mountains were the goal towards which every 
living being pressed on. Waggon after waggon, troop on troop, 
all hurried onwards; and many of the ardent new-comers 
looked with wonder to see men spending their time in felling 
trees, or dragging planks along in handcarts ; but yet these 
men knew what they were about. 

The Yankees are a practical race, and there is very little sen- 
timent about their speculations. An American never chooses a 
beautiful spot for his place of abode without some ulterior view. 
He loves the rustling wood, if he wants to saw its trunks into 
lanks and posts; he rejoices at the sound of the murmuring 
rook, if it runs quickly enough to turn a mill for him — if not, he 
is utterly indifferent about it. 

Perhaps the few who have established themselves by the 
roadside have already tried their luck in the mines, and have 
not succeeded. At any rate, they knew how important it would 
afterwards be that they should take early possession of these 



118 



A bird's-eye tiew. 



wayside spots; and thej were right enough in their calcu- 
lations. 

It must not be supposed, however, that the man who built 
himself a house here had any rash idea of living in it. Nothing 
of the kind. So soon as ever a proper price was offered, he left 
it with the greatest readiness, and went and built another ; for 
California was large enough. What they wanted was to secure 
the squatter's, or pre-emption, right ; and the sequel proved 
that the astute Yankees had calculated well. 

Now it grew dark. Behina the girdle of mountains on the 
coast the sun sank into the sea, and darkness followed close 
on its departing track. How quiet everything became almost 
instantaneously ! 

The waggons and carts were drawn up by the roadside, to be 
out of the way of chance passers-by. The cattle were unhar- 
nessed, and furnished with bells, or hobbled ; and thus they were 
driven to graze by the nearest brook ; where the people had 
already lighted a fire, and piled up wood for consumption during 
the night. 

Here and there the lurid gleam of fire flashed through the 
trees. Dark figures moved around each of them, and at length 
lay down to rest or bask by the embers. The wanderers wanted 
no inu, for they were well aware that they would find none ; 
and every one had brought what he required, — something to 
eat, and a blanket — the more luxurious even a tent, — and 
that was enough ; for they could expect nothing more in the 
mountains. 

Presently the fires burned low, and the stars gleamed down 
silently and coldly on the sleepiug land, with all its feverish 
dreams and longings. 



CHAPTER IX. 

A PAEADISE. 

The two chief rivers of California, on whose tributaries the 
gold was first discovered, are, as has been ah'eadj said, the Sacra- 
mento and the San Joaquin. 

The first of these rivers comes down from the north, while the 
second flows from the south. Both run on by the foot of the 
mountain-range, which forms, in the west, the third and lowest 
ridge of the great system which may be called the spine of 
America, under the name of the Rocky Mountains in the North, 
of the Andes in the Centre, and the Cordilleras in the South. 

Erom this great range a number of little streams flow east and 
west into the valley, and into the principal rivers, with which 
they unite ; and the banks of these little streams had proved so 
rich in gold, that already a thousand hands were at work, turning 
up the ground to extract the treasure it had concealed so long. 

In the north, the principal of these streams were the Eeatner 
River, Yuba, and Bearcreek, with the American Eork, and a few 
others of smaller volume ; in the south, the Calaveres, Macalome, 
and Stanislau.s, with smaller tributary streams, had the best gold- 
yielding repute. 

Between the Stanislaus and Calaveres, pouring its waters 
into the first of these two rivers, flowed a little clear mountain- 
streamlet, to which the Indians, in their picturesque language, 
had given the name of the "Heaven's Eye/' A party of 
Americans who had arrived subsequently, either because they 
did not at once find what they sought on its banks, or, perhaps, 
only from mere savagery, dubbed the pretty little stream the 
"Devil's Water." 

Both names contained some truth. If the mountain-stream, 
with its crystal waters flowing amid flowers, had sparkled like a 
heavenly eye, so now, with its bed cut and hacked in all directions, 
its waters turbid from the constant cradling, and the trees on its 
banks hewn down and lying in fragments, with greed and envy 
and every bad passion aroused by the prospect of golden gain, it 
had in truth become a devil's river. Bursting forth some way 



120 



A PABADISE. 



up the valley from a gap in the rocks, magnificently surrounded 
by mountain walls, the Devil's Water, as it was universally called, 
flowed through a valley with a perfectly flat surface, and ran off 
through just such another gap on the opposite side of the vale. 

It was plain enough, that the waters of the stream had, at 
some former period, formed a lake here, until the swollen waters 
had forced an opening, and thus left the bottom of the lake 
dry. 

The valley itself became what the Americans call a "flat,'* 
places which occur veiy frequently in the mountains ; and alter 
a few abortive attempts to extract gold from it, this flat began 
suddenly to yield sucli a quantity of the precious metal, that it 
obtained the name of the "rich diggiugs," and that not only 
from the towns, but from the neighbouring mines, a number of 
gold-washers came flocking down to try their oft-tried fortune 
once more. 

Dealers soon began to bring up their wares, and to provide 
everything that was necessary or unnecessary to a miner's life, — 
for instance, provisions, clothes, implements, and brandy ; and 
in a few weeks' time there had arisen in the flat, where the rain 
had not yet washed away from the ground the traces of the 
grizzly bear, a little town of tents — not unlike some corner torn 
off San Erancisco — built in the midst of the mountains. 

As the place grew larger from day to day, it became necessary 
that a name should be given to the collection of tents, booths, 
and rural huts ; and a number of appellations were accordingly 
proposed. At last an accident decided the point. 

About in the centre of the flat stood a single gnarled oak- 
tree, which, with the space immediately around it, was considered 
the richest spot in the neighbourhood, but had already been 
taken possession of by an American company before the arrival 
of the great body of diggers. Though they were themselves 
still working at another place, and did not therefore begin 
digging up the ground round the tree, these Americans refused 
to let any one else seek for gold there ; and as they were strong 
enough to maintain their real or pretended right, in case of 
necessity, by force, no one had dared to set them at defiance. 
There was, moreover, ground enough in the neighbourhood, 
which proved quite as productive as the region around the tree, 
which from that time was dubbed the " Eorbidden." Hence the 
town itself was soon jestingly dubbed the "Paradise;" and 
though a certain Mr. firown, who had set up the first tent, 
exerted himself strenuously to get the place named after himself 
"Browntown," all his persuasions, backed though they were 



A PARADISE. 



121 



with bottles of brandy, proved ineifectual, and the " Paradise/' 
with its forbidden tree, stood for all time — or at least so long as 
the valley yielded gold — beside the Devil's Brook. 

With the exception of its name, however, the " Paradise " 
had remarkably little to recommend it. The whole little town 
consisted of a single street, about four hundred paces in length, 
where all the hucksters' tents had congregated together, while 
the suburbs were represented by a few separate tents and booths^, 
scattered irregularly through the neighbourhood. 

Nevertheless the little town was already organized in the 
wilderness, and a judge and sheriff had been chosen. Before the 
tent of the former of these functionaries there waved, in token of 
his dignity, the United States flag with its stars and stripes. But 
beyond this, every citizen did exactly as he liked ; there were no 
taxes or duties to pay, and the judge, or alcalde, as the Cali- 
fornians called him, had to get together his salary in the shape 
of tithes, and all kinds of little chance perquisites. 

The " Paradise," moreover, was only the centre of the diggings 
which had here been opened on all sides ; a place in which only 
a part of the real gold- washers had domiciliated themselves for a 
time, and a depot whence the neighbouring miners could procure 
their provisions, so long as they should choose to remain in the 
neighbourhood. No one was much bound to the soil in such a 
town ; and even the few dealers who had set up their wooden 
booths there as warehouses could be induced, by a report of 
some richer place in the neighbourhood, to pack up their pro- 
perty at a moment's notice, and start for a new domicile — and 
this sort of flitting occurred every week at one or other of the 
diggings. 

Notwithstanding that the valley was broad and open, the 
region around was exceedingly picturesque; for, shut in by 
mountains, beautifully wooded with pines, cedars, and oaks, this 
flat formed a charming resting-place for the eye ; and the tents, 
as they stood scattered about under the several groups of trees, 
tended only to enliven the picture. 

Wherever the eye rested, it encountered these light canvas 
dwellings on the declivities round about, where every evening 
the camp-fires threw their lurid light upon the dark walls flash- 
ing up as wildly and fitfully as the life the inhabitants of those 
dwellings led. 

But now the sun shone high and bright upon the beautiful 
green woodland, and on the busj murmurip.g vale ; and, if any 
Vv^anderer con Id have entered the valley, and, unconscious of the 
vocation of those rough men, had seen it only as a part of the 



122 



A PAEADISE. 



world, cut off and isolated as it were from all the rest, he 
would have paused, in delighted wonder, to gaze upon it, while 
the name "Paradise" rose involuntarily to his lips. 

Yes ! God's world is beauteous everywhere, — ^rand as a 
mighty temple; but a temple continually desecrated by the hand 
of man. And such a fallen temple was this valley, in which 
nature had gathered everything that could make it a paradise, 
and where men were grubbing, and toiling, and moiling for gold. 

What a hum of seething, busy, labouring life ! Erom every 
€reek and gully arose the peculiar clappering, rattling noise of 
the cradles ; and wherever the eye glanced, it fell upon groups of 
brawny-armed, hard-fisted men, with pickaxe and spade, digging 
and shovelling up the stubborn earth. 

And crowds of people were going, as the fresh arrivals poured 
in. Numbers, lured by the enticing accounts spread abroad about 
the rich mines, had found themselves deceived — or, at least, their 
expectations so far from realized, that they strapped their bun- 
dles together and marched off, like nomades as they were, to 
other diggings of which similar tales had been told. At that 
time marvellous stories were in circulation — they have not en- 
tirely evaporated even to the present day — of a golden lake up 
somewhere in the mountains, whose shores, discovered through 
an accident by a fortunate few, had yielded, and still concealed, 
treasures of fabulous value. 

Among tlie rest, a caravan came marching up the valley, along 
the road, which, rough and stony, was still practicable for the 
sturdy American waggons. One of these vehicles came creaking 
and lumbering along, with a queer-looking assemblage trudging 
on either side of it. 

They looked, indeed, oddly jumbled together, nor had any 
similarity of taste or feeling united them. A more prosaic 
consideration — the weight of their luggage — had made them 
companions of the road, and compelled them to perform the 
journey to the mines in each other's society. 

In Stockton, a number of sharp Yankees, proprietors of wag- 
gons, had found very remunerative employment for their vehicles 
in transporting to the mines the baggage or swag of such emi- 
grants as found it too heavy for their own shoulders on so long 
a march. If a party could be made up large enough to satisfy 
the Yankee, they started at once ; if not, they had to wait till 
new arrivals, bound for the same, or at least for neigbouring 
mines, had reinforced their number. As the newly-arrived gold- 
diggers seldom had any fixed destination, and were generally as 
ready "to try their luck "in one spot as in another, the mere 



A PAEADISE. 



fact of a waggon being ready to start for any place was often 
enough to make them decide on accompanying it ; so that a load 
was soon made np, the Yankee cracked his raw-hide whip, and 
away they would go. 

A party of this kind it was who now came winding up the 
valley. There were men of all nations. Most of them, marched 
along in their shirt-sleeves, having thrown their coats and jackets 
into the waggon ; and they came trooping on, laughing and 
joking, and every now and then stopping to look at the groups 
working in the " claims " by the roadside — groups every whit as 
motley and heterogeneous as the new-comers themselves. In a 
gully by the roadside, where the mountain-stream rushed on about 
twenty feet below the level of the path, three negroes and a 
mulatto were working in company. They had dug a deep hole 
in the bank, and were washing out pailfuls of the auriferous 
earth. A hundred paces higher up, three united Irishmen were 
pounding away at the solid rock with pickaxes. Above them a 
party of Mexicans had established themselves, with flat wooden 
dishes and short crowbars ; and still further up the valley a large 
company of Americans had turned the stream aside for a short 
distance into a new channel, and were grubbing for nuggets in 
the dry bed. 

Even the Celestial Empire had sent representativ^es to the 
great congress of Californian diggers. Further up, where the 
valley became narrower, and the shallow mountain-stream covered 
a portion of the road, a little group of Chinese were working in 
their loose blue cotton jackets and short wide trowsers. 

One of the Chinamen, who looked rather superior to the rest, 
seemed to be the leader of the little company. He was unusually 
tall and well-built, for a man of his generally undersized race, and 
was particularly distinguished by the thick luxuriance of his 
glossy black pigtail. This appendage, it seemed, rather inter- 
fered with the wearer's gold-washing operations, and he had con- 
sequently rolled the lower end carefully together, and coiled it 
up in the left pocket of his jacket. 

Just as the waggon went by, this " Chinaman's delight" came 
tumbling out of its place of concealment ; whereupon the pro- 
prietor laid down his pick, and, first washing his hands, restored 
it to his pocket with much respectful care. 

"My conscience, CounseLor!" exclaimed one of the new- 
comers, who had stopped to staie at the Celestials — while their 
waggon went creaking on — " there's a pigtail for you ! " 

" Hm — yes — long enough," ansAvered the Counsellor, who 
stood puffing his everlasting pipe, with the air of a man who has 



124 



A PAEADISE. 



made up his mind never to be astonished at anything, let it be 
ever so startling or novel — " but nothing in that — we let hair 
grow — soon be as long." 

" Well, you do surprise me," said the first speaker, in wonder 
at his stolid indifference. 

" Why should he surprise you ?" struck in a third traveller, 
who had just come up, and stood with the other two looking at 
the Chinese. " Our honourable friend here had an office in 
Germany ; and an official man there will find plenty of pigtail 
among his colleagues, even if he doesn't follow the old system 
himself, and hasn't brought it to California." 

" Detestable fellow, this Binderhof," muttered the Counsellor, 
and he turned to march after the waggon, without deigning a 
reply to his enemy's thrust. 

" But, my good Binderhof, what do you mean by going on in 
that way at the poor Counsellor?" asked Hufner, grinning in 
spite of himself. 

" Nothing," answered the long man, laughing ; I'm only 
having some fan." 

"You'll make him seriously angry before you've done." 

" I should be sorry for that, for he is the only entertainment 
I have in this precious old rocky dusty crib. I say, Hufner, I 
fancy it will be slow work here; for if I'm to dig such holes as 
these people seem to do, I shall get precious little gold." 

" Why, yes," answered Hufner, in rather a desponding tone, 

you're not altogether wrong there, my good Mr. Binderhof. 
According to the accounts I heard of the mines, the work was 
not anything like so heavy. They told me one could pick out 
the nuggets from the rock with a knife." 

So they told me, too ; but never mind — we'll find our gold 
somehow, even if we don't dig for it ourselves. Hollo ! what's 
the matter there in front ? Look, that must be a German." 

A man had been travelling along the road, in front of the 
waggon, bound, like the rest of them, for the diggings. He was 
driving an ass, heavily laden, and accompanied by a little foal 
only a few weeks old. The little animal kept rubbing itself 
against its mother in such a way as materially to interfere with 
her progress. The poor old creature was, moreover, so heavily 
laden, that she could scarcely move ; and her master belaboured 
her soundly with his stick. 

The road was just wide enough for the waggon to pass ; and 
the poor ass staggered along a few paces, but the foal got in the 
way, and she stopped again. 

Her master, a coarse-looking German, in thigh-boots and cloth 



A PARADISE. 



125 



cap, with a single-barrelled rifle over his shoulder, seemed terribly 
enraged at the poor ass. He fired off a volley of oaths ; and 
gave the poor foal such a kick in the side with his heavy boot, 
that it fell 

" That's too bad," grumbled the Counsellor, who had come up 
to where his savage countryman stood; "thundering shame — 
! cruelty to dumb beasts ! " 

\ " Mind your own business, old pipe-smoker ! " roared the 
donkey-man, still more enraged by the interference. " The brute 
is mine, and I can do what I like with my own property. The 

; beast has kept me dawdling long enough, and I'm sick of it." 
So saying, he threw off his coat and brought his gun to his 
shoulder ; and before any of the bystanders suspected his inten- 
tion, he fired ; and the poor little foal, that had got up and run 
to its mother for protection, gave a leap and fell dead. Then he 

I seized his cudgel, and began to beat the poor ass unmercifully as 

I she stood licking her dead foal, and pushing it with her head to 
make it rise. 

The action was brutal enough to bring down a storm of in- 
dignant execrations from all who witnessed it. The Counsellor, 
in particular, became so excited that he actually let his pipe 
go out. 

But the German was determined to brazen it out. "Mind 
your own business ! " — he roared — " and leave me to mind mine. 
The beast belonged to me, and I can do as I choose with my own 
, property. If I get too late to the mines, you wouldn't give me 
I anything for losing my time." 

" What does the fellow say ? " asked the waggon-driver — a 
long wiry Tennessean, who had been looking at the German 
with anything but a friendly expression. 

Hufner, among whose accomplishments a little broken English 
might be numbered, translated what the German had said; 
whereupon the long man grasped his whip, and replied, — 

"He says the critter was his, and he may do what he likes 
with his own, does he? Well, this whip's mine, and I'm just 
of his opinion;" and he cracked the raw hide lustily about the 
German's head and shoulders. 

Eoaming with rage, the other first grasped his empty gun, and 
then felt for his knife. But the spectators — Americans and Ger- 
mans — applauded the Tennessean, and dared the donkey-man to 
touch him. Against such a number he could, of course, do 
nothing ; and the Counsellor stood counting the blows as they 
fell, with evident pleasure. 

Ahl" — he muttered, when the American left off, and went 



126 



A P^UIADISE. 



quietly back to his team, — " nine ! lie ought to have had twenty- 
five — rascally brute ! " 

The Germau raved, and swore he vrould shoot the waggoner 
like a mad dog, as soon as he could load his gun ; but nobody 
cared for him ; and he was left to reflect upon his conduct, or to 
vent his wrath upon his poor ass, just as his feelings should prompt. 

This little incident had diverted the attention of the travellers 
for a time from the gold- washers ; and after expressing their 
opinions, in no measured terms, on the donkey-driver's brutality, 
they brought out their brandy-bottles, and drank success to the 
waggoiicr, whose whip had so completely expressed the senti- 
ments of the community in general. 

Eut they soon had — to use the donkey-driver's words — to 
" mind their own business." The road lay across the course of 
the mountain-stream, with deep and unexpected holes in every 
part ; and in some places the way was so narrow that the wheels 
had but just room to turn. This was the place where the waters 
of a mountain lake had, at some former period, forced their way 
down into the narrow valley ; and when once they had passed 
this spot, the difficulties of the journey were over. 

The waggoner proved equal to the occasion. He knew how to 
manage his four oxen, if ever waggoner did. With word and 
with whip he ruled them, and kept them accurately in the track 
they were to take ; and though the proprietors of the freight 
looked sometimes in silent dismay at the ugly spots they had to 
pass, where the deviation of an inch or two might have sealed the 
fate of the whole load, they always found that the waggon 
creaked safely on, within half a foot of the crumbling edge. 
Eut then the Tennessean was a veteran driver, who had come 
with the same waggon, if not with the same oxen, past those very 
spots, and over worse too, in the Hocky Mountains; and he 
was not to be daunted by a bad road. And, moreover, he saw no 
further danger than could be comprised in a turn-over of the 
waggon and a turn-out of the contents, for which, if the truth be 
told, he did not particularly care ; while in the Hocky Mountains 
his own life had frequently been imperilled by a false step, or 
the rolling of a stone. 

Now they reached the upper pass, and all at once encountered 
such a scene, that even the Counsellor could not refrain from an 
exclamation of surprise, in w-hich he was joined by the Ameri- 
cans of the party, who, accustomed as they were to the wild 
confusion of Californian life, could not tell the reason of the 
uproar that suddenly burst upon the ear. 

Not only did the whole flat appear to be in a state of revo- 



^ A PAEADISE. 137 

lution, with tlve miners all rushing from their work, whooping, 
shouting, yelling, and laughing— but the little town itself seemed 
to have become possessed by the demon of uproar. Here stood 
a man hammering upon a gong, till the harsh booming _ sounds 
echoed far out into the mountains ; there another was blowing into 
a tin trumpet, until he produced the most excruciating tones, and 
swelled the veins in his forehead almost to burstmg. At one door a 
man stood banging a drum; at another the proprietor was clash- 
ing a pair of cymbals together; while a third seemed bent on. 
drowning the noise of both in the din he made with an old 
cracked bell. 

To make as much noise as possible seemed the one endeavour 
of the whole town; and as the gold-washers came hastening up 
at the top of their speed, it really looked as if the whole com- 
munity were threatened by some great and unexpected danger. 

"What the 'tarnal's the matter here ? "shouted one of the 
Americans to a countryman, who came trotting past him. " Is 
there a fire anywhere ? " 

"Afire?" answered the digger, stopping for a moment, to 
laugh at the questioner's anxious face. " No— no fire anywhere 
but in the kitchen. But the fact is, we're hungry, and that's 
their way of announcing dinner. You've just come in time, 
stranger ! " and he nodded and ran off. 

The explanation was right enough. Many keepers of pro» 
vision-tents found it pay to provide their customers with dinners 
at two dollars a head. The hideous summons was merely a call 
to dinner; and as there were not bells enough in the town, and 
their use would, moreover, have caused some confusion as to the 
different signals, each tent had appropriated some particular 
instrument, which served as a summons for its frequenters when 
dinner-time came. 

The new-comers could not take advantage of the invitation;, 
for their baggage had to be unloaded, and to be kept in sight, 
till it could be consigned to the protecting care of some booth 
or tent. 

The Counsellor, however, did not allow himself to be swayed 
by any such considerations ; for he started with the supposition 
that his fellow-travellers, who would be obliged to look after 
their own effects, would undertake the moral responsibility of 
watching over the safety of his. As soon, therefore, as he heard 
that these signals meant" " dinner," he started off at once towards 
the nearest tent, and, entering, deposited his hat and his long 
pipe in a corner, and took his seat at the table. 

The establishment itself did not promise any great things. 



128 



A PAEA1>ISE. 



inasmuch as the whole furniture consisted of a long table of 
rough pine-wood, with forms of the same material for the guests 
to sit on. A few small tablecloths, of decidedly dingy appear- 
ance, were spread upon this primitive board, with long blank 
spaces of wood between. 

Knives, forks, and spoons were certainly there, and also a great 
saltcellar, apparently of tin, though the thick coating of dust 
with which it was covered rendered the question of the original 
material a doubtful one ; but the great attraction of the enter- 
tainment seemed to be two great jars of pickles, chiefly gherkins 
and capsicums, — a great boon to men who had eaten to satiety of 
fresh meat and wheaten bread, and which made theai willing to 
pay a tolerably high price for a meal which, with the exception 
of the pickles, they might very well have cooked themselves at 
home — that is, in their own tents. 

Many guests had alreadv taken their places, and numerous 
others kept streaming in ; and, with the remembrance of San 
Prancisco strong upon him, our friend the Counsellor made up 
his mind for a regular iahle d'hote ; but he was grievously 
mistaken. 

The whole dinner consisted of a piece of rather tough beef, 
with potatoes boiled in their skins, and wheaten bread. He 
made trial of the pickles ; but the first taste induced such a fit 
of coughing, that he gasped for breath, and desisted from the 
attack. Two dollars were demanded of him for this plain fare ; 
and when he turned to leave the tent, in high dudgeon at the 
extortionate charge, he found that some one among the guests 
had appropriated his broad-brimmed felt hat, leaving in exchange 
a horrible tattered fragment of straw, suspended in most insulting 
wise over the Counsellor's pipe. All his indignant inquiries 
were in vain; his English was not of the most intelligible kind, 
and the people to whom he complained of his loss seemed 
violently inclined to laugh at him for his pains. So there was 
nothing left but to return to his companions, leaving the broad- 
brimmed felt to its fate. 

Binderhof was there when he returned, and received him 
with a smile of pleasure. " Well," he exclaimed, " I never 
thought the Counsellor could be such a vain man. Look, gen- 
tlemen — here, he's run away from us, and hurried into the town 
•^just to huy a new hat 

" A plague on the old bit of wicker-work," growled the Coun- 
sellor, angrily throwing down the poor old fragment he had stuck 
on his head in mere absence of mind. " E as cally fellows here — • 
Where's my cap ? " 



A PAEADISE. 



129 



Lamberg was tlie only practical man in all the little company 
— and lie had as great a horror of work as the Counsellor 
faimself ; but he had this advantage over the latter, that he 
could at least give directions how a thing ought to be done. 
I'or carrying out his plans, he had to avail himself of the services 
of Mr, Hufner, who was far too goodnatured to refuse any 
request. Herr Hufner, moreover, alv/ays thought great things 
of the Counsellor = — probably on the strength of his official 
title. 

The first thiug to be done now was to put up the tent they had 
brought with them, in some suitable spot. Lamberg found out a 
place, and indicated where the holes for the tent-poles should be 
dug; then he let Binderhof hold the poles, while Mr. Hu'.'uer, in 
the sweat of his brow, made the first holes they had yet sunk in 
the soil of California. 

At last, the tent was erected, and the baggage carried in by 
the whole strength of the company ; and then, as they wished to 
look about them in the strange city, Mr. Hufner was left behind 
as a guard. Hufner would gladly have made a similar excursion 
on his own account ; but, directly the arrangements had begun 
to approach completion, the Counsellor had lit his pipe, and 
taken his departure. Binderhof had strolled after him with 
his hands in his pockets ; whereupon Mr. Lamberg declared 
it to be absolutely necessary that he, Mr. Lam^berg, should per- 
sonally survey the ground, to decide on future operations. Thus 
it happened that no one was left but goodnatured Mr. Hufner 
to keep an eye upon the common property. 



130 



TUB U;'DTA1\ CHIEF. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE IXDIAX CHIEP. 

It was about five o'clock in the afternoon when the newly- 
arrived Germans finished their first and most necessary arrange- 
ments. The diggers had long gone back to their various occupa- 
tions, — some to work in the flat itself, others beside the little 
streams ; and the "Paradise " lay almost deserted, with its white 
tents bleaching in the hot sunshine. 

The main street of the town was quite clear of passengers, with 
the exception of a single Indian in a tattered woollen shirt, who 
came out of the forest with a load of wood on his back, to be 
deposited in one of the stores or eating-house tents. The white 
people would reward him wdth a bit of bread and a drink of 
brandy ; and thus this Indian purchased a draught to benumb 
his mind with perhaps the first real labour to which he had ever 
subjected his body. 

Suddenly horses' hoofs were heard clattering along the road 
that led from the mountains, and the unusual sound made even 
some of the listless storekeepers emerge from their tents to see who 
the visitor might be. Nor was their curiosity disappointed ; for 
the sight they saw was well worth the little trouble they had taken. 

Pour or five brown horses, slenderly built, but quick and 
active, came galloping at full speed dov/n the street. Each of 
them w^as ridden by an Indian. 

The leader of the party was a young man of twenty-five or 
twenty-six years ; and, strange to say, he was dressed entirely 
in European fashion — in light trowsers, a jacket with a profusion 
of buttons, and a straw hat, beneath which his raven hair fluttered 
merrily in the breeze. His feet were certainly bare, but across 
his shoulders was slung a long single-barrelled gun, and a long 
Spanish knife gleamed in the Chinese girdle of red silk he wore 
round his waist. 

The Indians of the Californian mountains are generally unused 
to riding, nor do they possess any horses : but this man sat like 
a Centaur on his horse, which he seemed to guide more with his 
knees than by the light bridle he held. Nor had he anything of 
that close, self-contained look which his race usually put on when 



THE INDIAN CHIEr. 



131 



they come in contact "with the formidable and encroaching white 
men. As he flew past boldly and proudly on his nimble steed, 
he even nodded from time to time as a face %Yhich he knew 
appeared at one or other of the tents ; but with these salutes his 
face never once relaxed into a smile, or altered the serious expres- 
sion of features, at once stern and handsome. 

The young and powerful Indian chief, Kesos, who possessed 
great authority over all the neighbouring mountain tribes, was 
well known to the storekeepers here ; for, wherever a quarrel 
was to be adjusted, or stolen property to be restored, they had 
only to turn to him, and might be sure that justice would be 
done. There were, however, objects of greater interest for the 
spectators that day, in the shape of two Indian women who fol- 
lowed the chief ; and there could hardly be a more perfect pic- 
ture of savage beauty than was presented by the two girls, as 
they flew past on their snorting steeds. 

They also had abandoned the native costume of their tribe. 
Instead of the petticoat of tanned leather, with plaited straw 
border and ornaments of shells and beads, they had adopted 
the gay-coloured stufPs of the white men, of which they wore 
long garments reaching to their ankles. 

They were hoUb. handsome girls. Their great dark eyes flashed 
and sparkled with the excitement of the rapid ride ; and their 
luxuriant black hair, confined only by an ornament of rough 
mother-of-pearl, floated behind them, rising and falling with the 
gallop of the horses. They were tali and well grown, and were 
clad, one in a crimson and the other in a yellow dress, confined 
round the waist by a sash of red silk, leaving the arms and neck 
free. They were barefooted, and rode astride with consummate 
ease on their saddleless horses. 

Behind them, mounted on rather shaggy -looking ponies, and 
showing evident traces of their lower rank, galloped two Indian 
boys of fourteen or fifteen years. 

These retainers had made an attempt to assume the European 
garb ; they wore jacket and trow^sers — that is to say, one suit of 
the kind had been shared equally among them. The fortunate 
possessor of the trowsers rode with his brown body bare above 
the w^aist, while he of the jacket had supplied all deficiencies 
with a short leathern petticoat : and thus these two esquires, or 
grooms, followed their master and his two companions, to hold 
their horses if they chose to dismount. 

Dashing through the street at a full gallop, the young chief sooe 
overtook the timber-laden Indian, whose unsteady pace, as lie 
staggered under his load, betrayed only too plainly in what manner 

K 2 



132 



THE INDIAN CniEF. 



of coin he bad been paid for former services. In a moment the 
chief turned his horse aside, checking it so suddenly as almost to 
throw it upon its haunches ; and, while the young girls made 
way for him right and left, he looked sternly upon the startled 
Indian, who cowered beneath his glance like a frightened 
schoolboy. 

" Kesos ! — capiiado ! stammered the wood-bearer, who looked 
half inclined to take to his heels, to get out of the way of the 
dreaded chief ; but the latter leaned down towards hiai, and said 
in a low voice of mingled scorn and anger, — 

" Art thou not ashamed ? Is not this a shame, Tibuka ? 
Thou liast opened thy lips to drink the white man's poison, — 
and, a warrior of the tribe of the Kayotas, thou bearest wood to 
the strangers' fires. Shall I send thee a woman's dress ? 

The Indian stammered a few words of excuse ; but the young 
chief, without listening to them, kept his eye fixed sternly and 
reproachfully upon his follower. The red man did not try to 
meet the glance, but he felt it upon him, and his head sank 
deeper and deeper. 

" Shall I send thee a woman's dress ? " repeated the chief ; and 
the Indian, no longer able to bear the scorn which lay in the 
words, suddenly threw the load of wood he carried into the 
middle of the road, and ran, as fast as his feet would carry him, 
back towards the mountains whence he had come. 

A slight smile of mingled scorn and bitterness curled the young 
chiei 's lip for a moment, but he never turned his head to look at 
the fugitive. Turning his horse again, while his companions* 
brisk little steeds leaped over the bundle of faggots in the road, 
he pursued his course at the same headlong pace. 

The little cavalcade here came upon a second obstacle, in the 
person of the German Counsellor, who, with his eternal pipe in 
his mouth, and a little grey cap on his head, had just turned out 
to have a look at the town. 

The Counsellor had certainly heard the galloping horses, but 
was so deeply engaged, staring at the tents to the right and left, 
that he paid no attention to it, till Kesos flew by him, so close 
that his foot touched the Counsellor's sleeve. Then the latter 
started aside, running exactly into the path of the two girls ; 
and had they not turned their horses aside Avith consummate skill, 
the poor man would certainly have been ridden over, in the very 
commencement of his Californian career. As it was, he escaped 
with the fright. The two bravely-attired grooms had plenty of 
time to get out of his way; and in a few seconds the whole party 
had vanisiied from view. 



THE INDIAN CHIEF. 



" Confound it ! " exclaimed the Counsellor, as lie stooped to 
pick up the gray cap, which had fallen from his head. " Fine 
way to ride ! — black heathens — rascals ! " and, without deigning 
to look at his disturbers, he continued his way down the street. 

The chief, meanwhile, stopped before the tent of the alcaide, 
over which the ximerican flag was fluttering in the breeze, threw 
the bridle to the boy who came running up to hold it, and called 
out a few words to the girls ; they nodded slightly in reply, and 
rode slowly on, till they had left the town behind them, and 
gained a little acclivity among a few scattered tents. Here they 
stopped, to await the further directions of their master. 

"Buenos dias ! " said the young chief, as he unceremoniously 
put aside the canvass curtain, and entered the alcalde's dwelling. 

That functionary happened to be lying in rather a prolonged 
siesta on his bed in the corner of the tent, and started up in 
surprise from his resting-place. On recognizing his visitor, he 
seated himself on the edge of the bed, stretched himself once or 
twice, and answered with a friendly nod, — 

"Buenos dias, Kesos ! " 

Herewith he had exhausted his available stock of Spanish 
words, and so continued, without further ceremony, in English,— 
"What do you want ? " 

"To speak you, judge," answered the Indian, in somewhat 
broken but perfectly intelligible English; "but not your language, 
it sticks on my tongue. Send for interpreter, — I have many things 
to speak." 

" Hum ! " grumbled the so-called alcalde, — a little corpulent 
American, whom his countrymen, for some unknown reason, 
dignified with the title of " Major," — " You've much to say, 
have you ? Sorry to hear it, for I've something better to do 
than to bother about your Indian humbug. What's the matter 
now ? " 

" Where is sheriff ? " asked the young chief, without noticing 
the question. 

"Where is sheriff?" repeated the alcalde, testily. "Ah, 
wliere is sheriff ? What's slieriff to me ? Sheriff's most likely 
asleep — or gold-washing — or gone out walking — or looking after 
his own business. Am I to look after the sheriff, or ought he to 
come to me ? " 

"Fetch him ! " said the Indian, laconically. 

"Fetch him!" cried the judge, astonished at the proposal; 
" that's not bad, — fetch him ! — as if I was his shoeblack. Fetch 
him yourself, if you want anything of him. I don't want him." 

" Good ! " said Kesos, and, v^ithout any leave-taking, ho 



134 



THE INDIAN CHIEF. 



turned, and quitted the tent, to seek out the sheriff, with whom 
he was well acquainted. 

Major Ryot remained behind, in a particularly bad humour; 
for if there was anything he hated on earth, it was business, with, 
which the sheriff used to plague him often enough; he was, 
moreover, aware of the influence he exerted over the different 
tribes, and knew that something extraordinary must have occurred 
to make Kesos ask to conduct his affair through an interpreter. 

And did the Indians ever pay, when they came to make their 
complaints ? Not a single dollar. If, indeed, it had been one of 
his own countrymen, or still better, a stranger, who came to in- 
voke the protection of the American laws, he could have demanded 
two or three ounces, and would have got thean too ! Not a pen 
would he put to paper till he had the gold safe in his possession ; 
but with the Indians it was a very different affair, and a very 
troublesome and unremunerative one ; moreover, business in 
which they were concerned seldom or never turned out profitable. 
And yet this tiresome business must be attended to, or he 
rendered himself liable to be called to account by the alcalde of 
the district court. It was a shame !" 

In the meantime some few inhabitants of the town had turned 
out of their tents, to gaze in wonder at the unlooked-for visitors. 
The chief was universally known as a man of far more cultivation 
than could have been expected from his surroundings, — in fact, as 
more than half-civilized ; and it was no secret, moreover, that all 
the neighbouring tribes looked up to him with a respect border- 
ing on veneration, while his every command was fulfilled with 
unquestioning obediencCc Thus, though his head-quarters were 
among the Calaveres Indians, he journeyed from tribe to tribe, to 
settle their disputes and listen to their grievances, — and of 
grievances, alas ! they had in those days more than enough. 

Tor had not the pale-faces poured into their country in every 
direction, like a stream that bursts its banks, to look for the 
yellow earth ! Had not the strangers felled their oak-woods, 
spoiled their fisheries, killed or driven away their game; and 
had not they themselves been driven, like wild beasts of the 
forest, from their own hunting-grounds ? Wherever they met the 
white man, the latter began to infringe upon their rights, and 
the slightest resistance the natives made drew down the vengeance 
of thousands of the pale-faces upon them. And further and 
further they were driven back, and higher and higher, not only 
into the deep snow of the mountains, but into the territories of 
hostile tribes. And still the strangers kept advancing, and 
claiming more and more of the land ; — what was to be the end of 



THE INDIAN CHir?. 



135 



it ? Where was the boundary to be drawn between the white 
and the red man ? 

The majority of the Indians did not see the whole importance 
of this irruption, which they thought would pass away in time. 
They knew that the white men had come to seek for gold, and 
thought they would go when they had dug up all they could 
find. Kesos saw further. He had himself been in San Erancisco, 
had seen the ships arrive there, freighted with tools and with 
wooden houses, and soon discovered, with dismay, that this 
incursion of the hated enemy was more than a mere temporary 
visitation. Everywhere they were already fencing in large pieces 
of ground, and ploughing them up ; and in his visits to the 
missions he had learnt what that meant. They had sown seed 
in the earth, from which in time they hoped to reap harvests, 
and the houses they built did not seem to him to be erected only 
for a single season. When the missionaries came and built their 
settlements, they had never thought of quitting the country, but 
had always striven to obtain more and more land. These white 
men, he thought, would do just the same. 

He had also noted the terrible numbers of the strangers : he 
knew the power of their firearms, and knew what an advantage 
such weapons would give them over his poor naked followers, 
who fought only with bows and arrows. He felt the hopeless- 
ness of resistance against such colossal power, and his heart bled 
for his people. But he was determined to dispute the country 
with them, step by step ; he was determined not to be daunted, 
and one circumstance still gave him hope, — the strangers did not 
seem united among themselves. 

His frequent visits to the missions had taught hini to distin- 
guish between Americans from the States, Mexicans, and Erench- 
men; and he had not failed to observe that the shoals of de- 
scendants of the Spanish race held together with the Erenchmen 
and other foreigners, but looked on the Americans with bitter 
enmity ; for the latter had taken from them, by force of arms, 
the strip of coast which, in former times, was theirs. W^ith the 
help of one body of strangers he thus hoped to conquer the 
rest. 

Poor Indian ! — thy hope was built upon a weak foundation ; 
thou trustedst to a cowardly degenerate nation, and knewest 
not the mighty power of gold. And if even the Mexicans had 
taken heart of grace, and defied the Americans — a thing they 
had not dared to do when called upon to defend their own 
hearths, and repel the invading foe? — the mountains wherein 
the red man had made his dwelling contained gold, and, whether 



136 



THE INDIAN CHIEF. 



American or Mexican came olf conqueror^ to the Indian the land 
was irremediably lost. 

But Kesos, raised so early in life to the highest dii^iity to 
which oue of his tribe could attain, did not see the future in it^j 
darkest colours. He would not believe what sometimes, in 
hours of depressioD, stole upon him as a presentiment of evil — 
and hope, the child of Heaven, given to us poor mortals for our 
consolation, still burned in the heart of the poor Indian. 

With their hands in their pockets, two or three Yankee store- 
keepers came strolling up the street, towards the spot where the 
girls were waiting with the horses. They had learned so much 
of the language of the Indians, as to understand that " Wallee^ 
wallee (friend, friend) was the national greeting among the 
natives. This "wallee," however, in their hands, or rather iii 
their mouths, was like the broken handle of some vessel ; for 
though they could begin a conversation with it, the dialogue 
immediately failed, through the deficient vocabulary. Never- 
theless, conscious of their importance as white men, Americans^ 
and possessors of the soil, the long, rough fellows went con- 
fidently up to the two fair ones, greeted them, and stood before 
them in expectation of a welcome. 

The girls had seen them at some distance off ; and though 
they observed them attentively, had not altered their position in 
the least. They had dismounted, and stood, while the boys held 
the horses, close to each other on a little eminence, from which 
they could see the whole of the little tent town to its uttermost 
limits. It was the same hiU on which our German friends had 
set up their tent. 

"Wallee, wallee!" said the Yankees, looking v/ith very 
amiable countenances on the Indian maidens. 

" Wallee, wallee ! " answered the girls, but without looking 
at the Yankees ; for their eyes were fixed on the alcalde's tent^ 
whence Kesos at this instant emerged on his errand to seek the- 
sheriff. 

"Hm ! — deuced nice girls/' observed one American to another; 
" particularly the red one ; and their brown skins don't look at 
all bad. What capital good taste he has, that rogue of aii 
Indian." 

The girls here exchanged a few words together without look- 
ing at each other ; and about the mouth of the taller of the two 
— the one in the red dress — there played a scornful smile. 

"If one could only understand theii' confounded lingo," resumed 
the first Yankee ; " but the words all sound as if they had 
been broken off short, and aftervYards pounded in a mortar. 



THE INDIAN CHIEF. 



137 



I don't think I could learn it if I stayed a dozen years in 
Califomia." 

"Wallee, wallee !" said the second Yankee, by way of recom- 
mencing the conversation ^nth the Indian girls. Again the 
scornful smile played round the full lips of the taller beauty, but 
she did not reply to the renewed greeting. She had done eoough 
for civihty, and wished to have nothing more to do with the 
strangers. 

" Oh, by Jupiter ! perhaps they understand English," cried the 
Yankee who had spoken first. " At any rate, it must be plainer 
than their gibberish, and I should think one could tell by the 
sound of the words what they mean. ^'Well, girls, how arc 
you ? — all lively ? Had a nice ride, eh ?" — and he put out his 
hand to chuck the girl in the red dress under the chin ; but the 
attempt was unsuccessful. AVithout even looking at him, the 
girl thrust back the outstretched arm with a quick motion of her 
head, while the features of her handsome face expressed more 
scorn and disgust than anger at the familiarity. 

" Well, well ! " cried the Yankee, rather abashed at the rebufi, 
"I don't bite, gal;" and he turned to the maiden in the yellow 
skirt, as if with the intention of renewing his attempt ; but the 
glance he encountered was not calculated to raise his courage ; 
and, thrusting his hand back into his pocket, he turned to his 
companion: — ''Come, Bill," he said; "deuce take the gals, 
they're as savage as wild cats, and as sharp as red pepper ; they 
can't stand up against our green mountain gals, after all; " and 
he lounged away into the town, followed by his companion. 

Erom the tent in which he had been left as a sentinel^ 
Mr. Hufner had not been an unobservant spectator of the busy 
life in the little town. Thus the Indian girls, who had stopped, 
as it were, almost before his door, and seemed to be waiting for 
some one, could scarcely pass unnoticed by him. He also 
began to feel the time hang heavy on his hands, and thought he 
could not do less than wish the brovrn ladies good evening. As 
soon, therefore, as the Americans had retired, he came slowly 
out of his tent ; but his native modesty would not allow him to 
go straight towards the girls ; so he" made a feint of passing 
them — for they could not know that he was not to leave the 
tent — and, when just opposite to them, he pulled off his hat 
gracefully, and said, in English, for he w^as ignorant of the 
Indian method of greeting, — 

" Good evening, ladies !" 

He had chosen an inauspicious moment. The two girls 
turned towards him, and eyed him with the same disfavour with 



138 



THE INDIAN CHIEF. 



wliicli they bad regarded the intrusive Americans they had so 
successfully rebuffed. At his greeting, which must have appeared 
strange to them, they looked at each other, and a slight smile 
curled the lips of each of them ; but they did not reply, and 
turned away the next moment with an air of supreme in- 
difference. 

"Ah," thought the abashed Hufner, "they cannot have under- 
stood me;" and he blushed fiery-red at the awkwardness of his 
position. Not feeling bold enough to make a further advance, 
he took out his pocket-handkerchief and wiped his forehead, with 
a dreary attempt at looking as if he had only taken off his 
hat for that purpose ; then, making a long circuit to save 
appearances, he glided back to his own tent, and was seen no 
more. 

In the mean time a crowd, chiefly of Americans, had assembled 
before the alcalde's tent. The sheriff, whom Kesos had suc- 
ceeded in hunting up, had told a few of them that the young 
chief had a statement to make ; and many of the storekeepers 
came to hear v/hat he had to say, while from the flat the first 
gold-washers who came straggling home joined the group, to 
hear the news. An interpreter was soon found in the person of 
a German, who, during a long residence in Chili, had acquired 
considerable proficiency in the Spanish and English tongues. 
He was, moreover, well known to the chief; and Kesos, directly 
he perceived him, held out his hand, and gave the German's a 
hearty shake, saying in Spanish, — 

"It is good that I find you, companero. Come with me; you 
shall get justice for me from the Americans." 

" Have you gold?'' asked the German, with a smile. 

" Gold !" exclaimed the chief, angrily — " what do I want with 
gold? I come for justice. Does Kesos take gold from those to 
whom he gives it ? " 

The German shrugged his shoulders, and thrust the tips of his 
fingers into his belt. 

" The old Major in there," he said, " generally likes to see 
the cash counted out before he opens his mouth ; and when he 
begins, one would like to pay him again if he'd only hold his 
tongue." 

"But the sheriff?" 

"Is an honest man — that I'll acknowledge," said the inter- 
preter; "and our old Major's confoundedly afraid of him. If the 
sheriff didn't call him over the coals every now and then, there 
would be the devil to pay. Well, come along — we'll see what's 
to be done; and if that hard-working alcalde of ours has 



THE IKDIAN CHIEF. -^S9 



anished his sleep tMs afternoon, perhaps lie may be m a good 
liumonr, and do something, for once in a way. ' ^ 

The sheriff, an American of the name of Hale, wno was eJso 
a butcher by trade, had in the mean time betaken himselt to me 
alcalde's tent, but did not find the Major in nearly such a good 
humour as the interpreter had hoped for. • p. -u 

" There has that red-skinned vagabond been, here again ! iie 
called out to the sheriff, "as busy as a bee ; most likely he has 
got some new complaint against a white man,— as it the ra-scais 
had any right to complain at ail. It's only out of mercitul com- 
passion we let them live,— the thieving scamps, who can t see a 
man's mule without setting about stealing it." 

It happened that the judge himself had lost a mule about a 
fortnight before. , x-, i> 

" I think we steal more from them than they do trom us, 
Maior," replied the sheriff; drily. " Besides, there's no help far 
it • you must hear their complaint, for our law says plainly enougn 
; that complaints may be urged either by whites or Indians. 
I ''But in no case," retorted the judge, " can a white man be 
found guilty of an offence on the testimony of an Indian JNow, 
I what do you say to that ? I'm not going to have all the gold- 
washers of the district upon me for the sake of a rascally red- 
skin. Can the State protect me if one ^of them sends a bullet 
I through mv head one of these fine days ?" 

" Nonsense 1" answered the sheriff with some scorn. VVe 
shall certainly keep so much authority as will hold the fellows 
in check when thev grow rebellious. But you must hear the 
^ man at any rate. Who knovrs what he may have to tell that nas 

^^?^^Welt\?ell!" grumbled the Major, in a dissatisfied tone; 
" if I must hear him, I must ; but I shan't bother about the 
fellow. As it is, he's discontented about everything, and stirs 
up his rabble more and more against us every day. Wlio knows 
how soon the thieves may break into the very tents, and begin 
to plunder them ; they're impudent enough for anything, I m 
sure. Call him in.--Oh, there he is already. These chaps never 
need to be called twice !" „ 
Before the judge had finished his grumble, the young cliiet 
iiad entered the tent. Seven or eight of the neighbours came 
trooping in after him, unceremoniously enough, to hear what was 

going on. . ^ n j +-u 

The judge sat down, very sulkily, at his table, and tiie 
sheriff stood beside him. The interpreter took the customary 
oath, and the Major cried out : — 



140 



THE INDIAN CHIEF. 



"Well, now, begin, in the name of mischief! What's th 
matter now, and where's jour grievance ? Some bit of fooler}*- 
I'll wager, that one of yoar own fellows has done, and that th 
white people are to pay for. What business have you in f 
neighbourhood at all ? Get back into the mountains, where yo 
belong ; there nobody will interfere with you, and there's gam 
enough, at all events. Here you are only in everybody's way!" 

The Indian chief had certaiuly understood this speech, thoug 
it was spoken in English ; for his eye flashed ; and when Eischc 
the interpreter, turned towards him with a grin to translate th 
polite address from the bench, he waved his hand to restrai 
him. 

"I could give reply, you judge!" he cried, in his broken 
English ; " but no shame is in you that you ask me — chief of the 
land— what my people do. Who called you here ? But stop," 
he continued, holding up his hand, as the Major, with a scarlet 
flush all over his face, was about to make some angry reply — 
I come not to make speak of that — hear what 1 have to 
speak ! " 

*'By the 'tamal, sheriff," said the pursy Major; "if the chap 
goes on like that, I'll have him turned out of the court." 

The sheriff shook his head impatiently, and nodded to the 
chief to state his case. 

"Yesterday," began Kesos, in the Spanish language, which 
he spoke fluently and accurately ; " yesterday a white man came 
to our camp, while the young men were away hunting, and, in 
spite of the remonstrances of an old man, who ordered him to 
go awaj^ he angered and insulted our women. He even dared 
to coQie to my hut, which my own people look upon as sacred; 
he molested the women there, and they were obliged to drive him 
away by force " 

"What does he say?" asked the judge, whose curiosity began 
to be aroused ; but when Fischer had translated the words, he 
shook his head angrily, and cried out, — 

" What nonsense ! A pretty thing to listen to such rubbish 
as that ! What is it to me ? I suppose I'm to keep guard over 
the Indian women !" 

"Hold!" cried the Indian, lifting up his hand. " We keep 
our women, and if you touch, our arms strike ! But unfortu- 
nately," he continued, in Spanish, "I came too late, — the white 
robber, when he saw that the women sent him away with scorn, 
knocked down an old man who sprang forv/ard to defend them, 
wounded another with his knife, and did not depart till the 
screams of the women made him fear that some of our young 



THE INDIAN CHIEF. 



141 



tnen worJd come np. His horse was ready, not far off ; an arrow 
that was shot after him, missed him and he got away 

"WeP observed the judge," when the statement had been 
translated to him; "I call that pretty considerably cool. You 
shoot arrows at a white man, and then come to ask me to pumsh 

^'""aMy^iood sir!" interposed the sheriff, without any great 
show of ?espect for his superior in office ; " that's all very well, 
but I fancy they had aright to drive away those who came 

to attack them.'' . , i n i i;i ' 

"But not to shoot arrows at them,'' interrupted the alcalde, 

" And why not ? " asked the sheriff, in a tone of perfect un- 
concern " If the fellow puUed out his knife and wounded one 
of these people, he might expect they would use their weapons 
against him; and it's the worse for them that they have only 
their weak bows and arrows to defend themselves with. But 
puttins; all that aside— do you know the man's name, Kesos . 

" What's the name to us ? " again interrupted the judge, who 
was growing very angry with the sheriff. don't want to 

know the name at all, for he has made a fool of himself-ne was 
a blockhead to begin a quarrel with the red-skms ;— but they had 
a shot at him, and the affair's done with." 

]N^o _^^^^ot done with ! " persisted the Indian vehemently, 
and he continued in Spanish : " He has spilled the blood of one 
of my tribe,— an old man, who lies with a heavy wound,— and i 
have come to you, the alcalde of this place, to require justice on 
the white man— just as you may be sure that one of my people 
would be punished who injured one of yours."^ ^ . i ^ --u 

"Indeed!" sneered the judge, with a malicious look au the 
savao-e when the last speech had been translated; "pray did 
you punish the thieving rascals who stole my mule a fortnight 
affo, eh ? Did I ever get my property back again ? " 

"None of my people stole it," answered the Indian calmly. 
"Who knows "whither it strayed, or who among your own 
friends took it away? I am not here to guard your mules lor 

"^^"'What does he say, Eischer ? He's not here to guard my 
-mules?— Nor am I to guard his wives," said the alcalde, now 
thorou2:hly angry, and rather glad of a pretext for venting his 
wrath.^ The sheriff did not seem inclined to take the matter so 
lightly ; and although he saw that the Major would hardly 
be induced to begin'a judicial proceeding against a white man, 
against whom there were only Indian witnesses, he ^vished, on 



142 



THE INDIAis^ CHIEP. 



his own account, to hear a little more about it • so he agai:. 
addressed the young chief, — 

''But it seems you were not in the camp at all/' he said,. 
" when the white man burst in upon you. You do not even know 
whether he was an American, a Erenchman, a Mexican, or a 
German. What is the use, then, of makiag a complaint ? " 
He was an American," said the chief decidedly. 

"An American, was he?" grumbled the sherifp, yet uncon- 
vinced. 

" We know the Americans among all the rest of the white 
men," resumed the Indian, speaking in a rapid and excited 
tone, and in Spanish. " Besides, he spoke English, and was a 
tali thin man, with a coat buttoned up, and a blue poncho — but 
not made like the Mexicans and Calif ornians wear them." 

" And whither has he iled ? " was the next question. 

"Here to this place — I traced him along your road to the 
place where the ground is stamped hard by your waggons. His 
horse, a large heavy beast, bad lost two nails from the shoe on 
its left hind-leg, and seems to walk lame on that foot ; most likely 
because the shoe w^as loose." 

"All that is nothing to us," the judge angrily interposed. 
" The man has committed no ofPence, and so " 

"Excuse me. Major," interrupted Hale gravely. "If he 
broke into the tents of the natives, molested the women, and 
wounded a man with a knife, he certainly committed an offence ; 
and you, as judge, are at least bound to summon a jury to listen 
to such a complaint." 

" I'll be hanged if I do it," cried the judge. 

" Then the Indian can go to the county court, and you will 
be compelled at least to hear him." 

" But in the name of mischief," cried the judge, who found 
himself driven into a corner, " let him bring forward the man 
who wounded the old fellow, that we may hear what he's got to 
say for himself. When these red-skins attack a man with their 
confounded flint-headed arrows, I suppose he's a right to draw 
his knife to defend himself." 

" Yes, sheriff ; there the Major's right," said one of the store- 
keepers who had lounged in the court. "I shodd like to see 
the judge or the sheriff who would prevent me from defending 
myself, if I was attacked." 

'^" Don't talk such nonsense," exclaimed Hale angrily, — " no 
one says so. But this much is certain, that if Kesos, who 
has always behaved himself like an honest and peaceable Indian, 
can point out the man who broke the peace of his camp, we have 



THE iyT)lAZ< CHIEB. 143 

laws vWcli will uphold him in his rights. The blood of a mtive 
mnsf- not be spilt without good reason. 

"^^'An hoBest and peaceable Indian !" grumbleci one of the 
storekee-oers : "instead of keeping his fellows at woi-k so thai 
Tey may earn their bread by their labour, rather than run 
Et vafabondizing and begging, he f-^/^hem ba^^^^^^ 
work into the mountains, as 1 saw him do myselt not Halt an 
hour a^o I had sent one of the red-skins mto tlie forest to 
fetch wood. He came back with a load, and was made to throw 
It dowTTn the middle of the road directly he met that iine gentle- 

^^^i°f;e;Ltruth, truth," answered the Indian, replying in 
broken English, in his excitement. " 1 sent him away— why did 
I this P Bid you give him gold or bread? You gived fire- 
water-poison/ YoSr laws say-give no brandy to an Indian 
5o you feep your laws ? No, no. And ask your alca de if he 
word of an Indian-if my speaking-is taken against a white 
man And white man Witnesses not against white man-no, 
no!-they bold like branch to branch. Is it not for their own 

""'"He's an impudent varmint," blustered the judge; "turn 
himfut of court! sheriff; we've done with mm, and wont hsten 

*°£Srn^a&;iply to this peremptory order, but began 
coolly to light a cigar from the matchbox on the taole, when a 
wild cry of triumph suddenly arose outside. _ 

"Hallo, what's that?" asked the ]udge,ia surprise. 

"I ca^i tell what it is," exclaimed Kesos, spnngmg witt flash- 
ing eyes towards the entknee of the tent. " Mela^.|ayu toun 
the man ; he is of your people ; you. may speak his name , and 
he thrust the curtain aside, and ran out ot the tent. 

"Deuce is in the feller!" was the judicial remark fi-om the 
bench; but the sheriff and the spectators ran precipitately out 

^*fn tilrtime, the two girls had stood -otionle. bege 
their horses, looking sharply at every one who passed them, ue 
i"bo s talked'and laughed togethm^ PO-^^S J 
other any fio-ure which attracted their attention. But it any ot 
tt ob ec'ts of their mirth approached, the^ cast down to eyes 
and st'ood, the pictures of gravity and deeoro^ii jnt Je iiaa 
massed, when they at once resumed their raillery and laugMei. 
^ Eor all that, th^y never ceased to glance restlessly around wit 
their eagle eyes, and nothing escaped their vigilance._ The digge . 
•Sning from he flat were objects of their especial atteation. 



144 



THE INDIAN CHIEr. 



till one person passing alone along the street concentrated their 
watchfulness upon himself. They could certainly not recognize 
his features, for he kept his face turned from them ; but, after a 
whispered consultation, one of the boys took the bridles of all 
the horses in his hand, while the other began gliding like a snake 
down the incline in pursuit of the stranger. But before he could 
■overtake him, his suspicion had changed to certainty ; for th-e 
long man, heariog the stealthy footsteps close behind him, casually 
turned his head. Scarcely had the young red-skin obtained one 
fair look at his face before he started and staggered as if a bullet 
had struck him. 

The tall man gave an ugly frown, and continued his way with- 
out paying any further attention to the boy. But the youngster's 
arm was pointed at him with unmistakable meaning, and the 
sign thus given was quickly acted upon by the party on the 
hill. 

Melangayu — the wasp, as the young chief called her — started 
up ; and, gathering her crimson skirt about her, she was standing 
the next moment beside her horse. The little groom had but 
just time to slip his arm out of the bridle before she seized the 
mane, swung herself on the horse's back, and began galloping 
down the incline. In a couple of minutes she had made her way 
through the groups of diggers on the road, who jumped aside, 
laughing and swearing, to let her pass, and had overtaken the 
stranger, of whom she had not lost sight for a moment. 

The man turned, on hearing the clatter of hoofs close behind 
him, and would have sprung aside to let her pass. But Melan- 
gayu checked her steed suddenly, and, darting full across the 
path of the startled wayfarer, uttered the shrill cry of triumph 
which, as she well knew, would bring the chief to her side in a 
few seconds. 

"Have you caught him, girl?" cried Kesos, as, springing from 
the tent, he ran hastily towards her. 

" This is he — this is he ! " screamed the girl triumphantly. 
" See, he is ail pale, and the mark of my nails is on his face 
still." 

" Was he so near as that ? " hissed Kesos between his clenched 
teeth ; and cast a look of deadly hatred at the American. "Look, 
Hale," he continued, turning to the sheriff, who with the rest 
came hurrying up ; " is he an American or not ?" 

" He looks a credit to his country, on my word," muttered the 
sheriff, who, however, had not much time for reflection ; for the 
stranger had recovered from his surprise, and called out angrily 
enough to know what they meant by stopping him. He enforced 



THE IXDIi^^ CHIEF. 



145 



Ills question by produciug a revolver from an outer pocket in iiis 
coat, and looking defiantly at the sheriff and the Indian. 

The sheriff was not a man to be daunted at the sight ot a 
weapon ; on the contrary, it confirmed him in his favourable 
opinion of the Indian chiel', of the correctness of whose complaint 
he now felt thoroughly convinced. So he said, with perfect 
composure, — 

" Please to put that thing in your pocket. You need not be 
affraid of being attacked, for I am the sheriff of this township." 

" And what have I to do with the sheriff?" asked the long 
man, as he restored his weapon to its concealment. 

" That you shall hear directly. What is your name ?" 

" Smith." 

" Yery well, Mr. Smith. Are you at present staying in this 
town ?" 

As you see, I am." 
"Where do you lodge?" 
"InDolkin's tent." 

" Yery good. This Indian here has made a complaint that 
you broke into his camp, and wounded an old man of his tribe 
with your knife." 

" The fellow must be dreaming," answered the long man, with 
a frown. "Tve never meddled with the brown dogs since I've 
been in California." 

" You lie, white man ! " cried the chief, angrily ; and again the 
American grasped his weapon. But the sheriff stepped between 
them, and said, quietly, — 

" This affair can't be settled here in the street. You will please 
to appear to-morrow morning in Major Ryot's tent." 

" For an Indian to bear witness against me ! " exclaimed the 
long man, with a scornful laugh. "Pray how long has this been 
law in the States ? " 

" You will not object to appear before a jury ? " observed the 
sheriff, gravely. 

" Certainly not — but a jury of icJdte men ; you look as if you 
had some other idea about it." 

" That will do," replied the sheriff, without further noticing 
the ironical remark. "I shall take care that you don't leave 
the neighbourhood before the appointed time to-morrow." 

" I shall not run away from your high authority," retorted 
Smith, with a laugh ; and he strode slowly through the crowd 
which had already gathered, and now opened to let him pass. 

" They're letting him go ! " exclaimed Melangayu to the chief, 
her eyes distended with indignant wonder. 

L 



146 



A IsIGHT IN PAEADISE. 



Tlie Indian bit his lips, and turned away, ^vitliout a wovd^ 
towards the hill where his horses were waiting. 

Come into the town to-morrow at the proper time, Kesos,^' 
the sheriff called out to him ; " and, if it is at all to be managed, 
bring the w^ounded man along with you." 

"Do you think your fool-jadge will hear me?" asked the 
Indian, gloomily. 

He can't well refuse," answered the sheriff. " I certainly 
can't promise that you'll get much good out of it, though you 
seem in the right, and that fellow looks like a rascal. I wish you'd 
only one white man to bring as a witness. But come ; at any 
rate, I shall be glad to show a certain set of bullies among our 
people that there is such a thing as law for the Indians. Then 
you will have less to fear in future from their impertinence." 

" I shall come ! " said the Indian, curtly ; and he seized the 
bridle of Melangayu's horse, and strode slowly towards the 
hill. 

In a few minutes the little party were seen riding at full 
speed ; they made a circuit to avoid the town, and soon disap- 
peared among the mountains. 



CHAPTER XI. 

A NIGHT IX PAEADISE. 

OuE little company of Germans had meanwhile been strolling | 
about among the tents, without troubling themselves much about ' 
the foregoing scene. Understanding little of the English, and 
nothing of the Spanish tongue, they could not form an idea of 
what was going on, but contented themselves with gazing at the 
Indian girls, admiring their excellent horsemanship, and watching 
them as they flew over the fallen trees and wide ditches in their 
path. 

The first thing on which they had set their minds was to find 
out some of their own countrymen who knew something about 
the place and its ways, the mode of digging, and above all of the 
jorqfit that could be realized. In a word, they wanted some one 
to confirm their own wild notions and golden dreams, and could 
not rest satisfied till they had found him. 



A NIGHT IN PAEADISE. 147 

At last the sun went down. The last of the miners came 
pouring in from the flat; some prepared their suppers at the 
fires in front of their own tents, while others scattered them- 
selves through the various eating and drinking houses with can- 
vass walls and deal tables. 

One of our three friends, Lamberg, Binderhof, and the Coun- 
sellor, ought certainly to have gone home to relieve the unfortu- 
nate Hufner, who could reasonably be supposed to be anxious 
for a sight of the canvass town. But none of them gave it a 
second thought. Hufner had no doubt made himself comfortable 
at home, and he would have plenty of time to-morrow for as long 
a walk through the town as he chose to take. 

Lamberg and Binderhof, of course, kept together, as the 
Counsellor could not bear the latter; and they had just stopped 
in front of one of the gambling-tents, which had already begun 
their ill-omened career, when a stranger suddenly accosted them. 

" How d'ye do, both of you ? Such was the free and easy 
greeting uttered by a young man who, attired in an old red 
shirt, with a rusty cap, worn very much over one ear, and his 
hands thrust deeply into his curiously greasy trowsers-pockets, 
stood lounging outside a tent at a little distance. 

" Hallo ! " said Lamberg, " whom have we here ? — a fellow- 
countryman ! Where do you hail from, comrade ? " 

"Lei — eip — zig," answered the German, in the true Saxon 
drawl, while his red round face relaxed into something like a 
smile. 

Binderhof, who had been brought up among the better class 
of society, stared at the dirty-looking customer from top to toe, 
and did not feel very much inclined to fraternize with him ; but 
Lamberg, less squeamish in his ideas, looked at things from a 
more Californian point of view. Information they must get, 
somehow or other, and what one man did not care to tell, 
another might let out in the course of friendly conversation, and 
the great object was to ascertain where were the most likely 
places for gold- washing. 

"Aha ! " he said ; "you're from Leipzig. Been here long ? " 

" Yaas ! " answered the Saxon, as broadly as before. 

" And have you found much gold ? " 

The German shrugged up his shoulders till they nearly 
touched his ears, and answered concisely, " No go." 

" No go ! " repeated Binderhof. " Then why are the mines 
called the ' rich diggings,' and the place the Paradise ? " 

" The storekeepers grow rich — that's true enough," said the 
Leipziger; "but the miners who work with cradles and pickaxes 

L 2 



748 



A XIGHT IX PARADISE. 



lie crying famiDC. You can't go by names ; they're given on 
purpose to get plenty of people to come/' 

" May I ask your name ? " inquired Lamberg, politely. 
Erbe — Louis Erbe." 

''All! — very good. Then could Mr. Erbe perhaps give us 
information if there are any other Germans here, and tell us 
where we could fmd them ? " 

" Oh, lots ! " said Erbe. 

*' I beg your pardon ! " 

"Lots, I say, — heaps — plenty ! you can find Germans every- 
where up here." 

" That's famous," said Lamber^. "xVnd where could we meet 
with them ? Have you not a kind of casino here — a sort of club, 
where you meet of an evening ? There m.ust be something of 
the kind." 

Stop, Doctor ! " said Erbe, drily. " Yv'e haven't anything 
of the kind you mention ; but up in the Frenchman's tent, yondei, 
I fancy you'll catch them all together." 

"And do you think, my good sir," said Lamberg, rather 
amused at the coolness of the greasy man — " do you think you 
could so far oblige us as to show us the way, — that is, if your 
time will allow. If our countrymen are not assembled yet, we 
might wait there for them, and, perhaps in the mean time, drink a 
glass together. We only arrived here this afternoon, and would 
like to make acquaintance with some of our own people." 

" Not the slightest objection," answered he of the scarlet 
shirt; and without another word he turned on his heel, and 
began marching slowly up the street. 

"That fellow's an original," observed Lamberg to his com- 
panion, as they walked up the street in the wake of their new 
acquaintance. 

" I wish he were not quite such a dirty one," said Einderhof, 
in reply. 

"Well, well," said Lamberg, "you can't expect people to wear 
kid gloves at the mines." 

" That fellow may, for any thing I knowto the contrary ; for I 
haven't seen his hands yet, and fancy they must be sewn into his 
pockets. He'll take us into some fine pothouse, I warrant." 

They had no time for further observations, for Erbe had 
already stopped before a wooden building which had been en- 
larged by the addition of a tent. After slightly turning his head, 
to ascertain that Lis two new friends were following, the con- 
ductor disappeared into the interior. 

Outside, in the open air, the twilight still glimmered : but the 



A NIGHT IN PAPvADISE. 



bootJj, or tent, was already lighted up for the evening. Smoky 
stearine candles were burning in tin candlesticks^ and sufficed to 
light up the place after a fashion. At any rate the illumination 
was considered sufficient under the circumstances. 

The room was furnished on true Caiifornian principles : deal 
tables, the legs driven into the ground ; forms of rough w^ood 
instead of chairs ; and all things on a corresponding scale. 

At some of the tables guests v/ere already seated, though 
most of the frequenters of the house were still at their suppers, 
and did not arrive till later in the evening. It was, however, 
with no small surprise that Lamberg discovered, seated most 
comfortably at one of the tables, with a bottle of red wine before 
him, his fellow-traveller and fellow-lodger, the Counsellor, who 
appeared to be in a state of enjoyment he had never attained 
during all his journey. Only, when he caught sight of Binder- 
hof, his face darkened for a moment, and then disappeared en- 
tirely, in a tremendous cloud of smoke he emitted from his pipe. 
Eut there was no escaping from his enemy, who came jauntiiyup 
to him, exclaiming, — 

" Ah, Counsellor ! at anchor here already ? I thought you 
had gone to relieve poor Hufner, who must be still standing 
sentry over our tent." 

He might have spared his breath, for all the answer he got 
from the Counsellor. But turning to Lamberg, the smoker 
ejaculated from the midst of a thick cloud, — 

" Capital medoc,-— two dollars and a half the bottle ; sit here, 
Lamberg" — he was afraid that Binderhof would offer his company, 
— " countrymen of ours here — very glad — confound it — capital 
place, California ! " 

Lamberg glanced at the bottle ; only one glass had been 
poured out; but it was the second bottle. Lamberg was 
not a man to shirk a merry evening, and the first arrival at the 
diggings was certainly an occasion worthy of being solemnized. 
The Counsellor too, more communicative than usual, introduced 
two other Germans, who had been sitting with hirn at the table. 

" Here, Lamberg— two countrymen of ours : Mr. Pischer, from 
Hamburg, and Mr. Kolber, of Meissen. A fellow-labourer 
o[ mine, Kolber," — and here he coughed signiilcantly, — "an 
actuary, — gave up a good salary to go to California ; — reckless 
man, very." 

Lamberg shook hands with the two new friends ; and Lischer, 
who had noticed Erbe standing behind him, cried out, — 

" Hallo, Loctor ! you there too ? Well, how are you, and 
where have you been these last few days ?" 



ISO 



A NIGHT IxM PABADISE. 



" Prospecting," replied Erbe ; and witliont in the least altering 
the position of his hands, he swung his right leg over the form, 
drew the left after it, and sat down comfortably beside the 
Comisellor. 

"Doctor ! " repeated Lamberg, in astonishment, as he sat down 
next to Eischer, and opposite to the greasy man. " Is the gentle- 
man a doctor ? " 

" Barber I " answered Erbe, laconically ; and he cast a furtive 
glance at the wine-bottle opposite his neighbour ; " only they call 
me Doctor here in the mines." 

The host, a native of Alsace, half Erenchman, half German, 
had meanwhile come to the table, to take orders from his guests. 
The Counsellor scanned his neighbour with rather a distrustful 
glance. 

" A fine country this, is it not ? " said the actuary, by way of 
renewing the conversation : " a truly Italian climate ; and we've 
a capital wine-house here too. The Counsellor will feel quite at 
home when he has accustomed himself a little to our way of 
life." 

" Well, do you know, Mr. Korbel," said the barber, " every 
one manages as well as he can for himself," — and he took a glass 
and put it down beside the Counsellor's bottle and, on the 
whole, we may be very well satisfied; for Tve a notion there 
are much worse countries than this." 

The Counsellor looked with increased astonishment, alternately 
at the speaker and at the glass so meaningly thrust forward. 
Eischer partly relieved him from his embarrassment by filling 
Erbe's glass from his own bottle ; whereupon that worthy indi- 
vidual took his right hand from his pocket, emptied the glass at 
a draught, set it down, and returned his hand to its concealment 
again. 

"And how goes it here in the mines?" asked Lamberg, who 
had also ordered a bottle, and filled glasses for himself and 
Binderhof ; " is anything to be done ?" 

" Just as it happens," answered the actuary. " If you find a 
good spot, you can do very well ; for there's rough gold to be got 
in the neighbourhood ; but one may dig and wash away for a 
long time without finding anything worth while." 

" Talking of washing," observed the Counsellor, who had not 
troubled himself much as yet about the gold, conceiving himself 
certain of success, " can you recommend a washerwoman ? I 
must send her my linen." 

"A washerwoman, Counsellor!" said Eischer, laughing. 
"Why not? We have everything here — only it looks a little 



A l^TIGHT IN PAKADISE. 



151 



different to tlie old country. If you want anything washed, ask 
for old Tomlins to-morrow ; any one will direct you. There you 
will find what you require." ^ i - i 

"Thanks," said the Counsellor; and he refilled his glass, 
without thinking it necessary to notice his neighbour's. 

"But thf^re must be many here who find a good deal ot gold, 
said Lamberg, who did not half like the indifferent tone m which 
the miners' prospects were discussed. _ n • j. 

"'Certainly," answered Pischer; "the Chinese, for instance, 
who work just below the flat, have made out capitally; and, a 
little further up, some Mexicans have found some splendid 
prizes. In the flat itself there are also some good spots ; but, 
after all, it's a matter of chance." 

" I can tell you something," struck in the greasy man ; and he 
g-v.Ye such an exoressive glance at the bottle, that Lamberg could 
not help taking the hint, and filled his glass for him. ^ Perhaps— 
he thought—this dirty chough, who has been knocking about m 
the mines long enough, can tell us something worth knowing. 

Erbe pretended not to notice the action ; but he took his hand 
out of his pocket, emptied the glass at a draught, and continued : 
"Down in the gulch there's more of the gold, and it's finer; up 
here, on the contrary, there's ju.st as much, but of a coarser 
kind ; and now you may begin wherever you like." . 

"Indeed!" said Binderhof, laughing. "Now we know all 
about it. Lamberg, the Doctor's glass is empty again." 

Lamberg did not appear to have heard the remark, though 
Srbe paused a moment to see if ^any result followed ; as nothing 
was done, however, he continued : — 

"Yes; and I'll put you up to gold-digging m half a dozen 
words. You see, first you must look out a claim, and dig a hole 
till you come to clay, or to the ledge ; well, and when you're so 
far, you begin to cradle. If you find clay and gravel together,^ 
so much the better ; there's generally something to be got It 
there's only the bare ledge, the chances are, it's no go. Where 
you begin don't matter a bit; the whole thing's a lottery. lo- 
morrow you shoulder your pick and crowbar, your shovel, and a 
tin pan — you can carry the cradle down after dinner— and dig 
away wherever you get a notion." ^ 

''Ato/iatr' asked the Counsellor, looking at his neighbour m 

astonishment. . t -r- i ^ 

"Wherever you think there's a likely place," said Iischer,nob 
a little amused at the bewildered faces of the auditors. " liie 
Doctor has rather a technical way of speaking. You'll know ail 
about it in time. But he's right in the main : no one can ted 



152 



A NIGUT IN TAHADISE- 



you where to try ; and if any one really knew of a place where he 
was likely to get a prize, of course he'd go and work it for him- 
self. Some gold is to be got everywhere; but whether you'll 
get enough to reward your pains is another question. But now 
do me the favour to let ns tallc of something else than this one 
confounded topic. Gold, gold, and gold again, — you hear of 
nothing else all day long in these rascally diggings ! and I 
assure you I'm sick of the very word." 

"Hallo! — here comes Johnny!" exclaimed the actuary, 
pointing to the entrance ; and, turning quickly in the direction 
indicated, they beheld a ligure strange enough to be in keeping 
with that most wonderful of all countries — California. 

He was a little spare-built fellow, apparently about twenty-six 
or thirty years old ; but his age was not easy to determine, as he 
drew his features into all sorts of queer shapes, and had, moreover, 
eschcAved the use of soap and water for at least a week. He 
wore a short jacket of grey cotton stuff, w^ith terribly threadbare 
trowsers of the same material, and a pair of old shoes on his un- 
stockinged feet. The most remarkable article in his wardrobe 
was his hat — a broad-brimmed felt, that had at some distant 
period been black. Three sides of the hat were now turned up, 
and sewn tightly in that position, while one corner vy^as bril- 
liantly ornamented by a pinchbeck brooch, wherein shone a large 
bit of blue glass, set like a jewel. 

Tl'is comical figure was not above five feet in height; but ils 
countenance wore a look of most portentous gravity. The little 
man came forward when he saw the Germans sitting round tlie 
table, stepped to within three paces of the board, and folding his 
arms across his chest, began with an air of tragic solemnity, — 

" Such are these people ! They live only for the day, uncon- 
cerned about what the coming hour may bring; and yet tl;.e 
black cloud is gathering above their heads, big with the light- 
ning -fiash that may burst upon them to destroy them — poor un- 
suspecting wretches as they are ! " 

" My stars ! " exclaimed Binderhof, astonished, and somewhat 
startled at this solemn address ; *^ he has broken out to some 
purpose. I say, Lamberg," he continued, in a whisper to his 
friend, " when I go home I'll have him and the Doctor cleaned 
and stuffed, — they'll do for my cabinet of curiosities." 

" Come, now, Napoleon," said Fischer goodnaturedly, "leave 
off croaking, and come and sit down by us. Here are some 
countrymen of ours just arrived, so give a paw, and wish them 
Good evening.' " 

" I have but a bad welcome to give them," answered the tragic 



A KIGHT IN PAKADISE. 



15a 



man with the cocked hat and folded arms ; and he frowned 
heavily, as his little twinkling eyes wandered from one face to 
another. " It would have been better for them if they had never 
set foot on this soil ! " 

"Confound it — what's wrong now?" asked the Counsellor, 
half rising from his seat. 

"Pray stay where you are," said Fischer, quietly. " This is 
only Napoleon — Johnny Napoleon, — who has sometimes rather 
odd notions. Who knows what he may have got into his head 
to-day?" 

" ril tell you what, Fischer," broke out Jolinny, uncrossing 
his arms, and subsiding suddenly into the prose of common life, 
" first make room for me to sit down, and then pour me out a 
glass of v/ine, — for I'm as thirsty as a brick-kiln ; and then I beg 
and beseech of you not to talk about what you don't understand. 
Good evening, gentlemen," he continued, turning with a very 
ceremonious bow to the other guests, as he stepped over the 
bench to take his seat by Fischer, who made room for him. 

"Johnny, Johnny, take care what you're about," he said, 
good-humouredly, as he poured out a glass of wine for the little 
man; "you've put on your coat the wroDg side out again 
to-day." 

"Fischer," answered Johnny, gravely, "please to leave me 
alone, with your nonsense. Good evening, Doctor ! " 

"Come, come, Johnny, you're out of temper," said Fischer. 
" What's the matter again now ? " 

" Matter ! " repeated Johnny, tragically, as he turned round ta 
those about him. " A whole heap, as the Doctor would say." 

" Well, then, fire away," said Fischer ; " but first let me intro- 
duce you to our friends. Gentlemen, you will please to remark 
that this is the great gold-washer, Jean Stulbeng, or John 
Stuhlbein, called in familiar parlance Johnny, or also Napoleon, 
on account of the marvellous personal resemblance he bears to 
the exile of St. Helena. He calls himself marcJiand tailleur, is 
thirty-two years of age, and full grown ; he was caught alive in 
the Mormon gulch, about four months ago. Now, you will 
observe, he appears to be perfectly tame, eats out of a plate, and 
drinks out of a glass, and though he has lived for two years in 
France, he can still partly make himself understood in his own 
language." 

" Have you nearly done ? " asked Johnny, who had listened ta 
this description of himself without moving' a muscle of his stolid 
countenance. 

" Quite finished, Johnny." 



154 



A NIGHT liSr PAEADISE. 



" Yery good ; then allow me to say a word or two in my own 
defence. Here, liost ! bring ns three bottles of champagne. I 
have — " 

"Bravo, Johnny/' interrupted Eischer, laughing. " Don't say 
a word more ; that's one of the best speeches you have ever 
made in your life. You w^on't beat that in a hurry." 

"Please not to interrupt me. I have one disadvantage to 
contend against with our countrymen, and that is, that they find 
me in such bad company ; but I hope a nearer acquaintance will 
do away with that, and we shall all appear in our proper 
light. But now, Fischer, be kind enough to open one of the 
bottles." 

" With the greatest pleasure, Johnny." 

"At the same time," continued Johnny, "I've some very 
serious news for you all — news that I hope will rouse you from 
your false security. The legislature of California has passed a 
law requiring all the foreigners in the mines — that is to say, all 
the gold-washers, for the storekeepers are excused from it — to 
pay a tax of twenty dollars a month ! " 

" Nonsense! " exclaimed the Germans; and Eischer and Korbel 
jumped from their seats. "Why, it's impossible ! " 

" What may be the matter, gentlemen ? " asked a party of 
Erenchmen at another table, who noticed that there was ill 
news abroad. The proprietor of the tent, who had heard what 
was said, translated Johnny's communication to them, and a 
general shout of indignation echoed through the tent. The 
newly-arrived party aloue remained tolerably quiet, for they 
could not yet understand the vrhole bearing of this unexpected 
and startling decree. 

Johnny was now the hero of the evening. Turning half-round 
on his bench, and speaking by turns to the Germans and the 
Erenchmen, he expatiated, in a wonderful mixture of the two 
languages, on the intelligence he had just received from an 
American who had come direct from San Erancisco; and he 
wound up an energetic speech by declaring, with much vehe- 
mence of gesture, that he, Johnny Napoleon, would rather die 
than submit to any such extortion. 

The whole tent was soon in a state of excitement, for other 
Erenchmen arrived, and confirmed the report. There was no 
doubt that it was contemplated to lay a burden on the foreigners, 
which they declared they would not bear. The hot-blooded 
Erenchmen were already full of plans and schemes for rallying 
all strangers generally round their fiags, and bidding defiance to 
the Americans. But the immediate result was advantageous 



A IS'TGHT IN PAK3JDISE. 



155 



-only to the wine-seller; for tlie people, in their excitement, called 
for bottle after bottle from his stores. 

More guests were by this time assembling, principally french- 
men, who sat together at their tables talking, in excited tones, 
about hardly anything but the new law and its hardships. Two 
more Germans had also arrived ; and these, with a polite " Good 
evening," took their seats at the table round which their coun- 
trymen sat. 

One of these new arrivals was a man still young, with dark 
curly hair; he was dressed in the usual red woollen miner's 
shirt, under which he wore another, a white one, of particularly 
£ne linen. His trowsers, too, though scratched and torn by many 
a bramble, were fashionably made, and of the newest cut. A 
large brilliant that glittered on his finger looked rather out of 
keeping with the rest of his costume ; altogether he seemed to 
belong to a different class to those about him. 

The appearance of his companion was still more remarkable ; 
for, just as we in Europe should be surprised to see a man come 
into any respectable society in his shirt-sleeves, so it was here a 
curiosity to see among all the rough gold-washers a guest who 
appeared not in a woollen or coloured cotton shirt, but in a black 
dress-coat, a round beaver hat, and kid gloves. 

Even the Counsellor, who had made up his mind to be sur- 
prised at nothing, looked in wonder at this apparition, and 
turned to his neighbour on the right to request an explanation. 
But he encountered Erbe's fat red face, radiant and rubicund in 
the enjoyment of the champagne, and gave up his intention of 
questioning the thirsty vulgarian. The stranger had seated him- 
self next his other neighbour, just opposite the actuary, so that 
the Counsellor was obliged to defer his questionings to a more 
convenient season. 

" So you're drinking champagne, gentlemen," observed he of 
the red shirt, with a laugh, as he hung his hat en one of the 
posts of the tent, gave his moustache a twirl, and took his place 
at the table. "Johnny must have had a splendid day again. 
Mine host, bring me a bottle too." 

" Hold ! " cried Johnny, stretching out his arm ; " you must 
drink with us, Count Beckdorf." 

" Thanks, thanks ! " laughed the man in the red shirt : " but, 
you see, I've given my order : another time." 

^" Count Beckdorf!" whispered the astonished Counsellor to 
bis neighbour the barber. But Erbe paid no attention to the 
remark ; for he was contemplating, with a grin on his broad 
face, the man in the black dress-coat, who was carefully unwind- 



156 



A XIGIIT IX rASADISE. 



ing a ]iandsome scarf from his neck. Then bending over the 
table, he said, — 

"I suppose you've catched a cold, Mr. Bu — Bubble — what^s 
your name 

"Bublioni," answered the man in the tail-coat, who knew 
Erbe well ; and he coughed shghtly behind his hand. " No, 
Doctor; I wear the shawl because if I had once catched a cold,, 
as you please to express it, I should be of very little use.'"' 

Binderhof and Lamberg had in the meanwhile been engaged in 
conversation about the worb'ng of the mines ; and as they warmed 
with wine the talk grew loud and animated. The later it grew 
the more guests came trooping in, till nearly every place was 
taken. At last came two more Germans — a little fellow with a 
red beard of portentous dimensions, and behind him the very man 
wiio had shot the ass's foal in the flat that morning. 

"Good evening, Kulitz ; how are you?" cried Pischer to the 
red-bearded one. " This way, man ; you're just in time to drink 
a glass of champagne with us. Whom have you there — another 
countryman of ours ? 

" Yes ; a fellow-passenger," answered Kulitz, with rather an 
embarrassed air, as if he did not half like his company. " He 
has been stopping at San Francisco for some time, and is going 
to try his luck in the mines." 

Then he'd better keep out of our way!" exclaimed Binder- 
hof, starting from his seat, while the rest looked in amazement 
at him and the new-comers by turns. 

" Confound it, yes ! " burst in the Counsellor. " He's the 
fellow who killed the foal to-day — rascal ! " 

"Bah! leave the old story alone," interposed Lamberg; 
"let each man sweep before his own door. What's that to 
us?" 

"What's that to us !" repeated Binderhof. "It's so much to 
me, at any rate, that I won't sit at the same table with such a 
fellow." 

"Hallo, what's the matter there ?" asked all the Germans in 
a breath ; but the man who had caused the commotion resolved, 
like Shylock, to " stay no further question." With a curse, 
addressed to the company in general, and a malicious look at 
Binderhof in particular, he turned on his heel and stalked out 
of the tent, leaving his enemy to explain the circumstances to 
the expectant guests. 

"The — — rascal !" shouted Eischer — " a nice fellow to come 
and sit down with us. The fellow ought to be outlawed, and 
whoever associates with him ! " 



A ^^^IGIIT IN PARADISE. 



"Well, well/' observed Erbe, who did not look on the 
affair in such a serious light, "after all, he onty killed a 
donkey." 

" If you choose to associate with him, Mr. Erbe/' retorted 
Eischer, still naturally indignant at the brutal deed, " this will 
have been the last glass you will ever empty with us — and that 
you may depend upon." 

Erbe looked rather bewildered, but did not say another word ; 
for the threat had been uttered in particularly plain language, 
^ind he did not care to risk its fulfilment for the sake of an entire 
stranger. 

The only man who had remained profoundly quiet, and main- 
tained an appearance of perfect unconcern during the scene which 
€nded with the exit of the obnoxious German, was Kulitz, the 
little man in the red beard, who had introduced him as a friend 
of his own. With an air of the most perfect indifference he had 
taken a seat at the table, ordered a glass of liqueur, and producing 
from one of his pockets a block of chocolate, and from another a 
fragment of Dutch cheese, he began to devour these rather incon- 
gruous viands in alternate bites, without taking any share in tlie 
3ebate. 

Meantime a lanky American had gone up to the proprietor 
at the bar table, and ordered a glass of brandy -and -water, 
whispering a few v/ords to the host, as he stood drinking it. 

The proprietor, who understood something of English, seemed 
to receive the stranger's proposition with disfavour. At last, 
however, he shrugged his shoulders and said, — 

" Well, I don't care, — if you want to play, I can't see any 
particular objection. There's a corner to spare at the table 
yonder." 

"Thank ye," said the American; and turning from him, he 
strode towards the spot indicated, and sat down, with a polite 
bow to the Germans assembled there. 

"Look there/' whispered Eischer to Count Beckdorf, who sat 
next him ; " if that isn't the rascal who wounded, or perhaps 
killed, the Indian the other day, and whom the chief wanted to 
haul over the coals ; one of those cheatiug gamblers : what does 
he want at our table ? " 

Gentlemen," began the American, who did not purpose to 
leave them in doubt as to his intentions ; " if you've no objection, 
why shouldn't we try a little game ? — the evenings are long, and 
time hangs heavy — for you can't wash gold by starlight, worse 
luck." 

So saying, he pulled a pack of cards from his pocket, laid them 



A I^IGHT IN PARADISE, 



on the table, and produced a tolerably heavy bag, he had till then 
kept concealed under his cloak. 

" Aha ! capital ! " cried Johnny, who roused himself at the 
sight of cards like a warhorse at the sound of the trumpet. " Now 
we shall have some sport, at last." 

I doubt that. Napoleon," said Eischer quietly. " If you want 
to lose your money to a parcel of sharpers, Tm afraid you'll have 
to do it somewhere else." 

" Somewhere else ! — and why ? " cried the little man. " Here 
we have everything ready and prepared, and you shall see how 
I'll draw the ounces out of that gentleman's bag." 

"That sounds all very fine and good, Johnny," answered 
Eischer; "but if these other gentlemen think with me, we'll 
have no gambling in this tent. I think the Erenchmen over 
yonder will side with us." 

" Turn the gamblers out ! " said Count Beckdorf; "let those 
plagues of the land keep among the Americans, where they 
belong." 

Eischer had meantime spoken to the Erenchmen, who at once 
agreed with him, that no play should be allowed to go on in the 
tent. But as a number of them stood up, Mr. Smith was under 
the delusion that they were coming across to try their luck 
against him ; so, with a complacent smile he shuffled his cards, 
passed them once or twice through his fingers, and then laying 
down the pack before Erbe, who sat nearest to him, he said, with 
a polite bow, — 

" Have the kindness to ' cut,' sir." 

" You'd better cu^ yourself," answered Erbe, with a knowing 
look at the rest. 

" Eischer, meanwhile, without entering into altercation with 
the American, had gone straight to the proprietor, and had repre- 
sented, strongly supported by the Erenchmen, that they would 
all leave the tent at once, if it was to be turned into a gambling- 
hell. The host would not, perhaps, have been averse to a little 
gambling now and then, for it would have kept the people later 
in the tent, and they would have drunk more. But he could not 
afford to drive away his guests, so he went to the American, to 
impart the general decision to him. 

"Mister," said he to the long stranger, "the gentlemen won't 
play ; so please pack up your cards again." 

" Won't play ! " remonstrated the fiery Johnny Napoleon, 
who had made up his mind to win, and would not be baulked. 
" Of course I tdll play ! What are you talking about ? " 

" Well, whoever don't like to play can leave it alone," said the 



A NIGHT IX PAHADISE. 



159 



American, with a smile an^ a nod at Jolinny ; meanwhile we 
i two will begin. Here, sir, are ace and three, and there five and 
nine ; on which will jon go 

" There's to be no playing in this tent, sir," interposed Eischer. 
j ''I fancy you will understand what we mean. Did you hear ?" 
I " Is this your tent, sir retorted the American, angrily ; and 
Johnny chimed in, with — 

" The business is none of yours, Kscher." 

"Hold your tongue, Johnny," answered Fischer, quietly; 
" you're outvoted, and can't do anything. This is not my tent : 
but it belongs to the man who has just told you there's to be no 
playing here. So just be kind enough to pa(!k up your call-birds 
there ; we're old birds, and not to be caught so easily." 

"Weren't you the interpreter to-day?'^ asked the AmericaUj 
looking at him with a malicious glare. 

" Yes, I was," answered Eischer ; " and if there were anything 
like justice to be had here, or if we had a better man for a judge 
than that blockhead of a Major, you'd be laid by the heels, my 
friend, instead of prowling about here with your bag of gold," 

" So that's your opinion of the aifair, is it ? " said the American, 
with a malignant grin. "What a pity you're not alcalde here !" 

" It's a lucky thing I'm not, for people of your stamp," grum- 
bled the German. "And now be kmd enough to take away your 
tools from the table ; we want the room for bottles and glasses." 

" Away with the cards ! Away with the gold ! " was shouted by 
a chorus of Germans and Erenchmen ; while J ohnny, resolved to 
make a last attempt, jumped on the bench, crying, "Messieurs 1 

— messieurs ! — si " But, amid laughter and shouting, he 

was pulled down from his high position ; and the people began 
to crowd in such an ominous way round the table on which stood 
the bag of gold, that the American found it advisable to beat a 
retreat, tie thrust the cards back into his pocket,' seized his 
iag, and said, — 

" Gentlemen, if Em so plaguily in the way here, I won't stay. 
You'd best make the most of the time you're got to stay in Cali- 
fornia ; you won't be alloY»'ed here much longer." 

" Who's to turn us out ?" asked one of the Erenchmen, who 
knew something of English, and tried to thrust himself forward. 
But the others held him back. 

"Let the blackguard go," said they; "he's angry at being 
turned off." 

The proprietor, whose interest it was to keep the peace in his 
tent, here interfered, and advised Mr. Smith not to get himself 
:nto trouble. That worthy, who was not remarkable for persona 



160 



A NIGHT IN PARADISE. 



'Courage, no sooner saw the entrance free than he clutched his 
money-bag with a tighter grasp, and fled. Eut the redoubtable 
Johnny was not to be pacified. 

"Messieurs!" he screamed, as he jumped once m^ore on to 
the bench, and fixed his hat upon his head with such an indig- 
nant twirl that the brooch with the blue stone shone over the 
nape of his neck, " I presume we're in a free country, 
where every man can do as he likes, without asking anybody 
about it !" 

" Bravo, Johnny — quite right! " lau<^hed some of the audience. 

"Messieurs," continued Johnny, with considerable anger, 
" you have turned out that gentleman with whom / was going 
to play. You had no right to do it. This tent is a house of 
public entertainment, and I am a part-proprietor so long as I 
pay my score ; and whoever interferes with my rights, interferes 
with the very conditions of my being — and I'm not going to 
stand that ! " 

" Bravo, Johnny — bravo," shouted the laughing audience again. 

" Messieurs ! " shrieked the little man, more enraged than 
ever, " I shall shake the dust of this place off my feet, and never 
come back to the tent where I have been insulted ! " 

With that the three-cornered hat flew round with an angry 
jerk, and Johnny jumped from the bench, and turned in high 
dudgeon to leave the tent. The host and Fischer tried to 
hold him back, but Napoleon, beside himself with choler, tore 
from them, and rushed out of the tent. 

This episode had thrown the whole company into confusion, 
and even the Counsellor had risen from his seat. Erbe alone 
remained seated, quite unconcerned about what was passing ; so 
deep, indeed, was his abstraction, that he filled his glass from 
his neighbour's bottle, and emptied it thoughtfully, at a draught, 
during his reverie. 

"My dear Mr. Counsellor," whispered Korbel, taking thQ 
worthy man by the arm in a confidential way, "I have a favour 
to ask of you." 

" Certainly — very happy," answered the Counsellor, who was 
in a particularly good humour, having rejoiced exceedingly at the 
expulsion of the American ; " but first, please, answer me 
one question." 

" With the greatest pleasure." 

" Gentleman there — tail-coat — odd idea that — why tail-coat 
here in the mines ? " 

" Oh, that is a singer — a tenor from Germany," answered tiie 
.actuary, laughing. " He seems to have got leave of absence. 



A KIGHT IN PARADISE. 



161 



just to pay a flying visit to the mines, and dig up a couple of 
thousand dollars' worth ! " 

" A tenor ! - — stupid fellow ! " observed the Counsellor. 
" Should stay at home. In Germany tenors make a load of 
money — get as much as cabinet ministers." 

"T^^ll — well!" said the actuary, "I don't suppose he's a 
' .Irst-rate one ; most likely one of those, you know, who 

' the Alphonsos in the operas. But I was going to ask you 
'V <aething: fact is, I've got an awful toothache coming on, and 
. iust be off home ; — but I happen to have left my purse in my 
tent. Would you be kind enough to lend me half an ounce till 
to-morrow morning, to settle my score here F " 

" Half an ounce ! " repeated the Counsellor, who thought the 
score rather a high one ; "why that's eight dollars." 

"Yes, only eight dollars," said the actuary, carelessly; "but I 
shouldn't like to go without settling my account, — only till 
to-morrow, if I might be so troublesome." 

" Ah — well — why yes — very well — with pleasure," replied 
the Counsellor, too goodnatured to refuse a service he could 
render, — and besides, the money was only wanted till next morn- 
ing. So he felt in his waistcoat-pocket, and gave the actuary a 
goJd half' eagle he had carefully wrapped in paper, and three 
& ;ver dollars, which the latter put into his pocket very briskly. 

" Thank you, thank you. Counsellor," he said, " I shall cer- 
tainly have the pleasure of seeing you to-morrow, and shall repay 
your kind advance." 

" No hurry — no hurry," muttered the Counsellor ; and the 
actuary pushed his way towards the host, whispered a few words 
to him, and left the tent. 

Almost involuntarily the Counsellor followed him with his 
eyes; not suspiciously, but from curiosity to see the young man 
pay his score with another man's cash. Did he press the gold 
iy.?c.e secretly into the proprietor's hand? At any rate, the 
Counsellor did not see any money pass between them ; but other 
comers and goers pushed between him and the host, and only the 
Germans, for the most part, returned to their seats. 

" Come, Counsellor," cried the cheery voice of Eischer, " come 
and sit down for half an hour more." 

" Thanks — not to-night — must excuse me— cursed headache — 
going to bed early." 

"To bed ! " exclaimed Eischer. " Happy man, he has a bed 
to go to ; — but come, you'll stay a little longer ; we're going to 
iiave a song or two. You'R join in, Mr. Binderhof ? " , 

" If you want a second tenor." / 




162 



A JTIGHT IN PAEADISE. 



Ah, capital ! that's just what v/e always want. We have a? 
first already ; and for a second bass—- hallo ! wliere has the Comet 
gone to ? — sunk beneath the horizon already ? " 

"The Comet?" asked Lamberg, laughing; "whom do you; 
call by that name ? " 

" Only our learned friend the actuary. Erom all our mining 
towns he disappears after a little while, leaving a whole train of 
debts behind him, — and so he has got the name of the Comet. I 
wonder what has spirited him away to-night ; perhaps his time is 
up here already." 

" It's not unlikely he's gone to play, like Johnny," suggested 
Count Beckdorf. 

"Not he," laughed Pischer; " he hasn't any money. If any- 
one would lend him some, it would be another thing ; — but even 
Johnny is up to him now." 

" Does he live far from here," asked the Counsellor, to whom 
these particulars were far from agreeable. 

" Oh no, not far, — the tent is only about fifty paces off, under 
which he sleeps with the apothecary Kulitz, yonder. Deuce take 
it, Kulitz, how many blocks of chocolate have you devoured to- 
night ? You must have brought a whole chest of it over with 
you. So you really won't stop any longer. Counsellor ?" 

"Thank you — going home," said the Counsellor; and he paid 
his bill, nodded to his countrymen, took off his cap politely to 
the frenchmen at the opposite table, and left the tent, to find 
his own habitation. 

Now it happened that the organ called the bump of locality- 
was entirely wanting in the Counsellor's phrenological develop- 
ment, and thus he had no very definite idea as to the direction in 
which his tent lay. He remembered, indeed, that they had 
erected it on a little hill, about a hundred paces distant from the 
town, and began walking contentedly down instead of '^{p the 
street, between the tents, which were still almost all illuminated. 

"The Comet !" He did not like the sound of the name, and 
lie had some apprehensions respecting the "half-ounce" he had 
certainly parted with somewhat lightly. Still, he kept repeat- 
ing that the poor man had promised to pay the next morning, 
and was probably lying in his own tent in all the agonies cf 
toothache. 

On his way, lie passed an American drinking and gambling 
tent, distinguishable from the other habitations only by its 
superior size, and by one other very significant sign, fastened 
to one of the posts that supported the roof, and brilliantly 
lighted up by the rays of a lamp, was a picture so coarsely 



A NIGHT IN PAEADISE. 



16S 



vulgar as to scare away the more respectable portion of the 
community from entering the place. This was just what the- 
proprietors wanted. They cared only for the gamblers and 
toperSj whom the disgusting picture would rather gratify than 
otherwise. 

The Counsellor had only given one glance at the place in 
passing, when he thought he heard Johnny's voice screaming in 
the interior. He must have followed the gambler who had been 
turned out of the foreigners' tent, and was losing his money here 
■ — or was he perhaps winning ? The Counsellor's curiosity be- 
came aroused, and he resolved to convince himself, by personal 
observation, of the state of the case. 

" Dirty vagabonds !" he muttered, as he passed the delectable 
picture, and began forcing his way with some difficulty through 
the crowd of idlers, to get a look at the interior. 

Eour tables were spread out, at which people were playing. 
At one of them there actually sat a woman, one of those 
abandoned Mexican girls who are sometimes kept as call-birds 
or decoys, by the professional gamblers. But the Counsellor's 
attention was soon riveted to a table on the left,- — for there was- 
Johnny, playing eagerly, and behind Johnny stood — the Comet ! 

" Confound it !" muttered the Counsellor, "he said he had 
the toothache !" 

Johnny sat with a very flushed, heated face, gazing at the 
cards before him. Korbel, who did not appear to be himself 
playing at that moment, looked round at the company two or 
three times, and suddenly disappeared, as if the earth had 
swallowed him up. Had he caught a glimpse of his last 
creditor ? The Counsellor could not tell ; but though he waited 
a quarter of an hour, and afterwards made his way quite through 
the tent, the Comet was no more to be seen. 

This episode was not calculated to improve the Counsellor's 
temper. He had an undefined feeling that he belonged to the 
tail of the comet, in which he, perhaps, shone as a star of the 
third or fourth magnitude. Eor the moment, however, there 
was nothing more to be done, and he therefore resolved to go 
home as fast as ever he could, and to press for the return of his 
advance the next day, with the terrors of the law, if need were, 
to back him. 

So he pursued his way along the tent street which became 
much quieter, and more lonely here at its extremity. Almost all 
the drinking and playing tents were in the centre ; and the gold- 
washers who had remained at home, had already put out their 
lights and gone to bed. Here, then, to the right must be the 

M 2 



A KIGHT IN PAEADISE. 



hill; and the counsellor accordingly turned in tliat direction. 
But the ground did not become higher, but ran on at a dead 
level ; and here and there he stumbled over heaps of earth, and, 
but for the faint starlight, would have fallen into some tolerably 
deep holes. Here all was silent and deserted ; and the Coun- 
sellor, somewhat timid by nature, felt quite uncomfortable. Still 
persuaded that his tent lay somewhere in the neighbourhood, he 
would not go back into the town ; and at last discovered a camp- 
fire, about a hundred paces in advance, at which he determined 
to make inquiries. 

To get there was still a matter of some difficulty, for the 
gold-washers, who had been trying everywhere for gold, had dug 
deep holes, and then abandoned them. Picking his way carefully, 
step by step, he approached nearer and nearer to the fire, till he 
could descry some one walking to and fro before it. It almost 
seemed as if some one were standing sentry there; nevertheless, 
the counsellor came upon him quite unexpectedly, and accosted 
him, when he was only two paces distant, with — 
Good evening ! — Can you " 

"Stand! Who goes there ?" cried the startled sentry, almost 
in a shriek, and he sprang back a pace or two ; and then the 
counsellor heard a clicking sound, as if two triggers had been 
suddenly cocked. 

"Well, well,'' he exclaimed, "don't disturb yourself — uncock 
your confounded gun — a good friend." 

" That's what I call cool !" exclaimed the sentry, a German, 
speaking in a strong Prussian dialect. " Here comes a man, 
creeping up through the fog in the night, like any snake, and 
calls himself a good friend !" 

" What is it, sentry ?" asked a thin piping voice, that might 
have belonged to a lad of fourteen. 

" Here's a German," answered the sentry, with his musket 
still presented ; " he has crept up to me unawares, and calls liim- 
self a friend." 

"Arrest him, and bring him to head- quarters !" was the 
reply. 

" Stand, or I shoot !" was the somewhat threatening remark 
of the sentry. "Prisoner to advance ! — Attention! — March !" 

"But, coniGund it," remonstrated the Counsellor, who, from 
fear of the loaded musket, had obeyed these orders with great 
alacrity, " I was only going to " 

" Silence !" thundered the sentry, a little stunted fellow, in a 
dark coat, with a white belt or sash round his waist. " Here's a 
ditch; jump across; one—two — three!" 



A NIGHT Ils^ PARADISE, 



165 



''But I only want " 

"One !" counted the sentry gruffly, and raised his gun to his 
cheek. "Two!" 

The Counsellor made a desperate leap, and landed safely on 
the opposite bank, to which he clung vdih. both hands. Dry 
wood hxad in the mean time been heaped upon the fire, so that 
it flamed up brightly, and the Counsellor saw that he was stand- 
ing beside a rampart, apparently newly erected, and surrounded 
by a ditch about three feet wide. The earth thrown out from the 
ditch liad been used in building the mound, and in the centre of 
the space enclosed stood a single white tent. Before the tent 
burned the fire, around which the Counsellor could distiuguish 
four other armed figures. 

" Climb up ! " was the order given by the merciless sentry, 
who still stood with his musket presented behind the prisoner. 
"One r 

" Confound it— stop cried the Counsellor, now really angry. 
I'm coming. There — lost my pipe-bowl ! " 
"Two!" 

" Rascal ! " muttered the poor prisoner ; but the musket 
infused fresh vigour into his limbs. With a desperate efPort, he 
swung himself up to the top of the mound, and suddenly saw 
himself confronted by a gigantic figure that stood waiting for 
him, musket in hand. 

"Good evening!" was the giant's pacific salutation; and the 
Counsellor remarked, with surprise, that he was the possessor of 
the thin, high voice. " What's your business out here in the 
middle of the night ? " 

"My business?" repeated the Counsellor testily; for an unde- 
fined feeling told him he had nothing to fear, so far as his personal 
safety was concerned. " That's an odd question ; ask your 
sentry. ' One, two, three !' — pretty thing, taking aim at people!" 

"The sentry has only done his duty," answered the giant, 
drily. " Where were yon going ?" 

" Home to my tent," replied the Counsellor; "lost my way 
in the dark; deuce knows where I am." 

" W here is your tent ? " 

" If I knew, 'shouldn't be here," grumbled the prisoner ; " only 
arrived to-dav." 

" Only to-day ?" repeated the giant. "Here, Schultze !" 
"Here !" answered one of the little soldiers. 
" Step forward." 

Schultze made two strides in advance, shouldered his musket 
and waited. 



166 



A XIGIIT IX PAEADISE. 



" Scbultze, you went out to-day to reconnoitre ; did you notice 
•whether any countrymen of ours arrived ?" 

"Yes," answered Schultze — "party of three, party of four, 
and one alone " 

" There are four of us !" cried the Counsellor, eagerly. 

" At the opposite end of the towE, about two hundred paces 
from it, on a little hill." 

"On the other side of the town!" cried the Counsellor, in 
amazement; "why, that's impossible!" 

" Schultze, fall back," said the giant, laconically ; and the man 
rejoined his comrades in true military style. Then his leader 
continued, — 

" Be so kind as to go back exactly the way you came, and you 
will probably find your tent." 

"Hum— indeed !" muttered the Counsellor, who could not 
quite believe that he had gone so entirely wrong ; "and I've lost 
the bowl of my pipe." 

" "Where :" asked the leader. 

"Here in the ditch." 

" Schultze, step forward ! Take a burning brand, and look for 
the gentleman's pipe-bowl." 

"' iMuch obliged. Good evening ! " 

" Good evening I Ground arms I— dismissed ! '^ 

The garrison dispersed, and the Counsellor scrambled back 
into the ditch. He soon found his white pipe-bowl, and put it 
in his pocket. 

" Have you found it r" 

"' Yes, thank vou. Good night ! " 
Good night ':— All's well !" 

" Good night, sentry ! " 

" Good night ! Stay — halt — give the word 1" 

"Go to the devil!" roared the Counsellor, with a savage 
glance at the encampment, as he began groping his way back 
through the darkness towards the town, where some lights still 
shone. This time he met with no misadventure, and at last 
reached his own tent, utterly exhausted with the unwonted ex- 
"Citement and fatigue. It was late by this time, and the rest of 
the little community were already in bed : even Hufner was 
fast asleep. But when the weary wanderer came groping his 
way into the tent, with the internal arrangement of which he was 
still unacquainteci, Binderhof accosted him. 

" Hallo, Counsellor ! — is that you ?" 

"Yes. Where's my bed?" 

■^'Oh, oh, my worthy Counsellor!" said lanky Binderhof, 



A NIGHT IN PAEADISE. 



167 



turning round in his own bed, without heeding the Counsellor's 
question. "You nocturnal prowler, you; going away from 
our company under pretence of getting to bed, and v/andering 
about the town in the darkness of the night. Counsellor, Coun- 
sellor ! giving yourself up to such temptations at your tender 
age 

"Nonsense !" grumbled the weary Counsellor. "Where's my 

" Nonsense, indeed ! " continued the imperturbable Binderhof ; 
" who knows what amorous adventures you may have encoun- 
tered." 

" Go to the deuce ! Where's ray bed ? " 

"Wait a moment. Counsellor," said good-natured Hufner, who 
had been awoke by the sound of Binderhof 's laughter ; " I'll get 
a light for you directly ;" and he began tappin^^ about in the dark 
for matches, until, at last, he found one, and lighted it. 

" To-morrow morning we shall expect you to tell us the story. 
Counsellor," said Binderhof. 

His weary opponent muttered something that sounded like 
the reverse of a blessing, pulled off his boots and his coat, 
and crept into the bed that Hufner had kindly prepared for 
him. 

" Shall I blow the light out. Counsellor r" 
"Unless you want to read in bed, Mr. Hufner," suggested 
Binderhof. 

"Detestable fellow that Binderhof," muttered tlie Counsellor. 
The light was put out, and in ten minutes all the inhabitants of 
the tent were in the land of blissful oblivion. 



168 



THE ALCALDE. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

THE ALCALDE. 

The morning broke, and the liglit creeping up the face of the 
sky shone on the orcliuarj scene of bnstle and preparation which 
all the little mining towns of California present in the first hours 
of each ne\7 day. 

The gold-seekers get up at daybreak, and sometimes even 
earlier, so as to have their breakfast over by the time it is quite 
light, and to begin their work early. Thus for a time columns 
of smoke from camp fires rose everywhere into the clear morning 
air, and sinewy figures moved to and fro for a while in front of 
them. Anon they were seen with their implements on their 
shoulders, and great tin wash-pans under their arms, hurrying 
in all directions towards their different claims." Some sought 
for gold in the bed of the stream, others on the banks, and others 
again in the fiat, where they hoped, by good luck, to hit upon 
the right vein, and to grow rich. No one told his neighbour 
what he had found, or whether he had found anything, l^o old 
miner questioned another; for all knew it would be in vain : the 
truth was never told. 

Our newly-arrived party were still undecided as to their future 
proceedings. With the exception of the Counsellor, they had 
determined, in the first instance, to try their fortune together ; 
to pitch upon a likely spot, and work a claim in company. 

The Counsellor did not care to work with them, if only on 
account of Binderhof, whom he could not endure. Moreover, he 
did not seem to care so much as the others for immediate profit ; 
for not only had he a very comfortable sum of money in hand, 
which enabled him to contemplate life in the mines for a time 
with great equanimity without working for his livelihood, but he 
moreover possessed some property in his own country. The rest 
of the party often wondered what could possibly have brought 
him to California at all ; but to all hints and questions on the 
subject he either remained silent, or gave very evasive answers ; 
so that, in the end, they had to let him go his own way. 

Thus, without any very definite object before them, the four 
Germans rose at sunrise, and set about preparing their break- 



THE ALCALDE. 



169 



fast; so that it was nearly nine o'clock before tiiej thought 
seriously of beginning their day's work. 

The so-called auriferous " flat " lay to the right of the little 
town, on each side of the mountain stream that rolled through 
the valley. To the left of the ''Paradise" the ground was also 
flat, consisting of stiff red clay ; but here it began to rise with a 
gradual sweep towards the hills, about five hundred paces off. 

This last-mentioned portion of the valley seemed to contain 
no gold, for no diggers were at work there. Only at intervals 
appeared shallow holes — signs that some had tried their fortune, 
but had given up their efforts in despair. 

But for the last day or two a couple of Americans had been 
hard at work sinking a new hole — and very severe labour it was. 
The ground was so hard and dry that they could only chip out 
little pieces by using their heaviest pickaxes, so that their progress 
was exceedingly slow ; but they persevered bravely in their efforts, 
and had at last succeeded in sinking a hole of very respectable 
dimensions, and about seven feet deep. Other workmen, whose 
way lay in that direction, often stopped for a minute or two to 
watch them ; but they always went away shaking their heads, 
and did not feel any desire to try their own luck there. They 
were, however, not sorry that the place was being tried ; for if 
the two Americans succeeded, it would be easy to try there too,, 
and to profit by the experience their predecessors would have 
gained. 

Lamberg had inspected the place on his own account the day 
before; but, seeing only the single party working away in the - 
stiff earth, he did not feel inclined to begin operations there ; so 
now he stood, in an undecided state of mind, before his own tent» 
considering where the easiest and safest commencement might be 
made. Suddenly he saw, with surprise, how at first a few and 
then a whole crowd of spectators congregated about the hole in 
which the Americans were at work ; then they scattered them- 
selves over the flat, and began digging on their own account all 
about the neighbourhood. 

"Hallo, my boys !" he cried out to his own party, "there's 
something up over yonder. I'll wager, those two fellows in the 
hole have hit the right nail on the head, and now all the rest 
want to be first to follov/ their lead. That's a good sign ! Shall 
we have a try there too ?" 

"If you like," answered Binderhof, with an air of indifference. 
" I don't much care where we begin to scratch ; and the place is 
convenient for us, for we can keep our tent in sight while we're 
working there." 



170 



THE ALCALDE. 



"Come along, then!" exclaimed Lamberg; "for we mayn't 
lose time if we want to get a good place. Now then. Counsellor, 
are you coming too ?" 

"Time enough for me," grumbled the Counsellor. "Do you 
begin — shall try somewhere else." 

" Yery well," said Lamberg ; and he seized the two tin cans, 
the lightest articles in their digging apparatus. " Binderhof, be 
so good as to take the two shovels ; and do you, Hufner, shoul- 
der the pickaxes : and then quick march — forward!" And, without 
waiting to hear the comments his friends miglit make on his 
ingenious division of labour, Lamberg the lazy turned away, and 
walked down to the place, which was not far distant. 

The people there were indeed busily employed in the prelimi- 
nary labour of marking out "claims" — square spaces about five 
paces long by four in breadth. Then they laid down their pick- 
axe or any other implement in the middle of the claim thus 
marked out ; and this, according to diggers' law, was a sign 
that the place was engaged, and could be worked by nobody 
else. 

Lamberg, who, by a sort of tacit understanding, had assumed 
the command of the little party, soon found a spot of sufficiently 
promising appearance, threw down his tin pans, stepped out the 
required space, and set Hufner to work to pick out the margin 
of their claim just as their neighbours around them were doing. 
He himself went with Binderhof towards the hole in which the 
Americans were working, and found about thirty others standing 
round it. At any rate, some further intelligence was to be gained 
there, and perhaps there was something remarkable to be seen ; 
and before they began work they wanted to ascertain this. 

Neither Lamberg nor Binderhof could speak English ; but, 
luckily, they fell in with an old acquaintance in the person of 
Ivorbel the actuary, who no sooner caught sight of them than he 
seized Lamberg by the arm, exclaiming, — 

" Quick ! bring your tools this very instant^ and begin digging 
here. You've arrived in our Paradise at a lucky moment. I've 
already marked out a claim for myself." 

"So have we," answered Lamberg. "But what has occurred 
here ? Why are the people so set upon the hard clay that none 
of them would have anything to do with yesterday?" 

" I fancy they've some cause," said Korbel with a laugh. " Do 
jou know that the Americans in the hole yonder have found a 
lump of gold weighing more than two pounds ? — a solid, massive 
bit of gold, I tell you, and not a vestige of quartz in it. I've 
seen it myself.'^ 



THE ALCALDE. 



171 



" Two pounds of gold in one piece ! " cried the astonished 
Ijamberg. " Why, that's worth four hundred dollars ! " 

"And where that came from, there must be more/' cried 
Korbel, who seemed all enthusiasm about the new discovery. 
" Come with me and you shall behold it too. Seeing is believ- 
ing, as the proverb says. 1 know the people ; they're poor devils, 
who have been working here along time, and till now have found 
little or nothing. By this time to-night they may be rich men." 

He pressed through to the group around, and soon they were 
standing on the edge of the hole. It was seven or eight feet 
deep, and looked as if it had been dug out of the solid rock. 
They had not to look long to see the lump of gold, for one of the 
by-standers had it in his hand, while others pressed round to 
feast their eyes on the treasure. Korbel, who spoke English 
tolerably well, begged, and obtained the loan of it for a few 
moments ; and our two German friends were introduced to the 
first specimen of gold they had seen fresh from the earth ; and, 
as may be supposed, they looked upon it with considerable 
respect. 

It was an oval piece, with irregular excrescences, something 
like a small potato ; very heavy, and exceedingly pure and 
shining. Here and there, in the crevices, were little bits of the 
red earth from which it had that morning been taken, — and how 
many thousands of years might it have lain in its concealment, 
before it was thus unexpectedly dragged forth ! 

Three young men were by the hole, — one of them was still 
hard at work with his pickaxe, the second was picking about the 
sides w^ith his knife, in search of a second prize, and the third 
stood on the margin, keeping a sharp eye on his property, as it 
travelled from hand to hand. 

Come, pass it down ! " he exclaimed at last. " You've 
looked at it long enough. I shall have half of it sweated off; I'll 
wager it's half a dollar's worth lighter already." 

" Don't be so greedy. Bill," answered one of the Americans, 
laughing. " In a lump like that, half a dollar, more or less, don't 
matter much." 

" You'd better fetch your pickaxes, and work," retorted the 
man in the pit ; " who knovv^s if ours is the greatest bit that's to 
be had here for digging ! " 

_ The hint was taken. Korbel handed the gold back into the 
pit, and the majority of the by-standers dispersed ; — some to go to 
work at once, others, who still wished to " work up " their old 
holes, to have their claims registered by the alcalde, to secure 
them against foreign invasion. 



172 



THE ALCALDE. 



The alcaldes in ail the mining towns derived the chief part of 
their income by registering these claims in a book kept for the 
purpose, each entry being paid for at the rate of two dollars. 
The place had then only to be marked with a pole and a number, 
and it might be left unworked for months, in perfect safety. 

Eor the last few weeks the emolument from this source had 
been very small ; for the flat was already occupied, and in the 
various mountain-streams it was not customary to register claims. 
People would try their luck in one place to-day, and in another 
to-morrow, and no one thought of encroacliiLg on his neighbour's 
ground, where there was room and to spare for all. But now 
the case w^as very different ; where there was a general rusix 
towards one point, all hoping to reap a rich harvest, — to register 
and secure places became a very necessary thing. Thus the new 
discovery was particularly welcome to the alcalde, who, by 
writing down a couple of hundred names and numbers had- 
earned double as many dollars in the course of an hour or two. 

In the mean time the news spread like wild-fire through the 
whole flat, that in the " red ground," as the place was called, a 
great lump of gold had been found. The storekeepers, to whom, 
it was a matter of vital interest to keep as many diggers as- 
sembled as they could, fired off a few^ little cannon, to show that 
something remarkable had happened ; — and fame, as is usual in 
such cases, soon added something considerable to the weight of 
the lump the lucky diggers had found. Such rumours were always 
very beneficial, for they brought new emigrants to the town, and 
there was an increased demand for provisions. Care was also 
taken that sundry flaming articles descriptive of the discovery 
should appear in the San Prancisco newspapers. 

Scarcely an hour after the excitement had first begun, the 
whole "red ground" looked like a great draught-board, parcelled 
out into squares of equal size. Some of the most eager were 
already working away bravely with their pickaxes, labouring in 
the sweat of their brows to get down, as fast as possible, to the 
golden stratum, where they hoped such treasures were to be 
got. 

In remarkable contrast to all around him, so practical in their 
industry, and so anxious to seize the present moment, stood our 
friend the Counsellor. He cared as little about the lump of 
gold, or the prospect of finding its fellow, as if he had been at 
home in his study, in Europe, and had just read an account of 
the discovery in some newspaper. 

Altogether unaccustomed to come to any rapid decision, he 
considered he had here X->lenty of time before him. "There must 



THE ALCALDE. 



173 



he plenty of gold left/' be thonglit ; " why should I be in a 
hurry and put myself out of the way about it." The first thing 
he wished to do was to find the washerwoman of whom Fischer 
\ had told him ; therefore, as Hufner was not in the tent to help 
him, he managed with his own hands to pack his soiled linen into 
a bundle, lighted a fresh pipe, and strolled slowly down into the 
town, covering his burden, as far as he could, with his coat- 
skirt. 

" Tomlins," was the name, — so much he had remembered, — and 
[ he asked a couple of Americans where Mrs. Tomlins lodged. At 
first they did not understand him, but on his exhibiting the 
bundle he carried, they understood what he meant, and directed 
him to a little tent, standing among the others in the street. 
I He entered at once. — knocking would have been difficult, in- 
! asmuch as there was no door to the tent, — but stopped short, 
not seeing the woman he had expected to find there. An old 
negro man sat at a fire in the middle of the canvas dwelling, 
watching an iron pot suspended on a couple of stakes, that hung 
over the fiames, and roasting potatoes in the hot ashes. He took 
|, very little notice of the Counsellor, not even troubling himself to 
return his visitor's nod, but only muttered a few unintelligible 
words, drew a potato from the embers, wiped it on his knee, and 
I began very coolly to discuss it. 
j " Mrs. Tomlins at home ? " asked the Counsellor. 
Eh ? " said the negro, without looking up. 
"Mrs. Tomlins at home?" asked the Counsellor, in a louder 
tone. He began to think the man was deaf, and was besides 
impatient at the coolness of his reception, so unlike the cere- 
monious politeness of Europe. 

" Me Tomlins ! " cried the old man, knocking his hand, with 
half a potato in it, on his breast — " Me Tomlins — what you 
want ? " 

" But where's the woman ? " insisted the Counsellor, who had 
no idea that the old fellow who was sitting before him could be 
the functionary in question. " Woman — woman ! '' he repeated 
m English. 

" Woman ! " cried the old negro, staring — and a twinkle of 
droll humour lighted up his furrowed face — " me no woman — 
■me Tomlins — want washing?" and further to illustrate his 
meaning he rubbed his hands together, as if in the exercise of his 
[ vocation. 

I " Hum ! " grumbled the Counsellor — " queer sort of a place 
California — want a white washerwoman — find a black nigger — 
no matter, if he can wash well;" and he unpacked the shirts he 



174 



THE ALCALDE. 



bad brought w'itli him. There were seven, and all of very fine- 
linen. 

" Put 'em dare ! " said the black, without deigning a glance 
at the garments ; and he pointed with his right hand to the corner 
of the tent, where a whole heap of linen lay piled up. " Throw 
'em dare — all be done dis here week." 

" But careful done — careful/' said the Counsellor, who 
did not quite like such a summary method of doing business. 
Eut the old negro only repeated " Put 'era dare," and seemed 
to think he had already given too much of his time to his cus- 
tomer. After a few abortive attempts to explain what he wanted, 
the Counsellor was obliged to give it up. At any rate, he was 
glad at having found some one who would wash for him ; so 
with a grunt of resignation, he tied up his bundle again, put it 
into the corner with the rest, and went very well satisfied with his 
morning's work, into the foreigners' tent, to strengthen himself 
by a glass or two of wine for further exertions. 

Just as the excitement was at its height — when the tent of 
the alcalde swarmed like a beehive with goldwashers, and that 
worthy functionary could scarcely weigh the gold fast enough in 
his little scales, as it was handed in to pay for the registering of 
new claims — a new scene attracted the attention of the dwellers 
in the Paradise, and made them even forget for a moment their 
golden hopes of gain. 

Down from the mountain, accompanied only by a single Indian 
boy, the chief Kesos rode slowly along the main street ; but 
before him there lay across his horse's neck the dead body of 
one of his tribe. The pallid ghastly head, with its long gray 
hair streaming down, rested on his right arm, while with his left 
he guided his horse, panting and snorting beneath its double 
burden. 

This time he rode not to the alcalde's tent, but to the sheriff's^ 
and his little groom sprang lightly from his pony to call him out. 
Hale, who had just left the alcalde, saw him coming, and went 
across to welcome him. 

" Is the man dead, Kesos ? " asked the sheriff, looking 
with an uncomfortable feeling at the rigid features of the 
corpse. 

" He is dead," said the chief gloomily — " poor old man — 
couldn't fight for himself." 

" And why have you brought him down here into the valley ? " 

"He shall speak to the white-man's heart," replied the 
Indian in a low voice, " though he is cold — if white man has 
a heart." 



THE ALCALDE. 



175 



The sheriff stood musing for a minnte — ^then he said briskly, — 

" You've done right, Kesos — come with me ; we'll take him to 
the alcalde directly, and shake him out of his golden sleep. The 
deuce take him," he muttered to himself, — "I wonder if he'll 
turn us away now." 

Without waiting for any further answer from the Indian, he 
beckoned him to follow, walked rapidly towards the alcalde's 
tent, and disappeared in the interior. The Indian followed him 
closely, stopped at the alcalde's door, and alighting from his 
horse, took the corpse of his dead friend in his arms, and marched 
straight into the judge's tent. 

Major Ryot was sitting, with his fat round face radiant with 
joy, and a bottle of brandy ready to his hand, at his great square 
table, which was covered with papers, while ten or twelve roughs 
sunburnt figures were grouped in picturesque fashion round 
him — some sitting unceremoniously enough on the Major's bed, 
others lounging on a spare table, and others again standing close- 
beside his chair, to get their claims registered as quickly as they 
could. 

" Softly, softly, gentlemen," he was saying ; " slow and sure — 
slow and sure : you shall all be served in your turns, according 
to the order in which you came. Bless my soul, one would 
think the very mischief had broken loose here this morning — the 
people are all mad for places they would not have had yesterday 
at a gift. What wonders one lump of gold can work ! " 

" One lump won't do it," laughed a long Kentuckian, as he 
shook his two dollars' worth of gold-dust into the scale, out of a 
little leather bag. " If we didn't hope to find some more, we 
shouldn't trouble ye.. The foreigners are after the claims like 
mad — the whole place seems like to swarm with them. You 
didn't ought to give away the best pieces to strangers, in that 
way." 

" My good sir," answered the Major, as he adjusted his little 
leaden weight in the opposite scale, *• we haven't any law against 
it as yet, and whoever brings me two dollars and asks for a 
claim, I can't — your two dollars' worth is a little short- — I can't 
refuse to let him have one." 

"My weight short?" exclaimed the Kentuckian, incredu- 
lously. " I weighed it off at home myself, and richly too." 

"Perhaps your weights weren't quite the thing," suggested the 
Major with a laugh. 

" Brian's weights — I brought them from San Erancisco my- 
self," answered the man. 

"Well, I can't help that. Mine are the correct thing; I cut 



176 



THE ALCALDE. 



them myself according to the proper scale. Bring' yours 
over when you're coming this way, and we'll compare them. I 
pay everything I have to pay by mine." 

"Well, a few grains more or less don't matter," said the 
Kentuckian ; and he took a pinch from a well-filled leather purse, 
and laid it on the scale. " If I find a lump like the one those 
fellows, had this morning, I don't mind paying the two dollars 
twice over." 

I'll consider that a bargain," said the Major, in high good- 
humour. " If you'd only give me time, I'd look out a claim for 
myself. But you don't leave me a minute's peace — and I'm the 
man who comes off shortest." 

" Major," said another, coming up to the table, "I want four 
claims." 

" Can't let you have 'em, sir ; it's against our laws ; I'm only 
allowed to give one claim to each man, and that you know very 
well." 

" Yes, but there are four of us, in our party ; here, I've brought 
you the names, and I want one for each." 

"Ah, that's another thing, — that makes just half an ounce. 
Where are your claims ?" 

" Just behind the tent here ; near the little cedar." 

" Just look at that ; you've been and dug up the earth up to 
my very tent ; and the next thing will be that one of you will 
come in and want to register the very ground it stands upon. 
But if that's to be grubbed up, I'll do it myself ; for the gold 
over which I've slept so many nights ought certainly to belong 
to me." 

"Here are the names. Major; what numbers am I to 
have?" 

"102 to 105. Hollo, Sheriff, — come to register a claim for 
yourself, too ?" 

" Not I, thankee," answered the sheriff drily, as he strode 
into the tent, "if other people are mad enough to come trooping 
round a bit of red stone, because some fellow shows them a 
lump of gold, why it's nothing to me ; but there's no reason 
why I should take part in the foolery, Siajor. The Indian has 
come again." 

"The Indian?" cried the alcalde, starting up in indignant 
astonishment from his pleasant work. " Let him go to blazes ! 
Don't you see, I'm as busy as I can be, and haven't time to 
bother about his complaint ?" 

"I don't see you've anything of more consequence to do," 
said the sheriff, quietly; "but here he comes himself, and he's 



THE ALC-iLDE. 



177 



brought Ms witness, too. You'll liave to give up a piece of a 
claim for him, poor fellow !" 

" Mercy on us screamed the alcalde, springing from his seat 
in very horror. The other Americans came crowding round, to 
see what was going on, and only the chief remained unmoved. 
He stalked slowly up to the alcalde, who retreated involuntarily 
before him, laid down the dead body in the middle of the tent, 
and said, in his broken English, — 

Here, Alcalde, — Eed-skin shall not witness against white- 
skin — so you speak — I bring here a witness that you can see 
through his skin. See — broT^n Indian has red flesh and blood 
like white man — and he wants revenge for murder — murder !" 

And throwing open the leather jerkin the dead man wore 
over his attenuated frame, he pointed with outstretched finger 
to a ghastly wound between the breast' and shoulder of the 
corpse. 

"Poor fellow!" muttered the gold-washers — who's done 
that ? " 

" A gambler, who has come prowling round among us here, — 
a Mr. Smith," answered the sheriff. 

" Devil take all the gamblers," cried the Kentuckian ; and he 
blurted out a round oath. " The dogs cheat, every one of them ; 
they're like so many condors let loose about the mines. Wher- 
ever they smell gold, they come prying round with their black- 
guard old greasy cards, and conjure the few hard-earned ounces 
out of our bags again." 

"Play ought to be forbidden in the mines," said another; 
" those who want to lose their money may go to San Francisco or 
to Stockton." 

" Forbid it ? — who's to forbid it ?" interposed the sheriff. 
"Do you think people are to be found, who would stand up 
singly against such a band ? They would'nt think of it. But 
every town has the right to make any by-laws that may be 
thought necessary for the good of all — and if the citizens would 
finite to decide upon such a measure, they could carry it out 
easily enough. They did it only last month at Rich Gulch, near 
the Macalome, where they turned out the whole set of gamblers, 
neck and crop, from the diggings ; and so you ought to do 
here." 

" Hallo, Alcalde, what have they been bringing in here ?" 
asked one of a new party of gold-washers, who had just strolled 
in to register fresh claims. " What are you about with the dead 
Indian— going to have him stuffed ?" 

" There — you see, Sheriff, that I reall;i/ haven't time to go into 

N 



178 



THE ALCALDE. 



this miserable affair now," said the judge, who had by this time- 
recovered from his first surprise ; " so do me the favour, and tell 
the Indian to come to-morrow, or the next day, and I will see 
what can be done for him. If we give him a few dollars, or a 
few pounds of biscuit for the poor fellow's relations, he'll be 
contented enough." 

This proposal, uttered in a low voice, was intended for the- 
sheriff's private ear, had been overheard by the chief, who cried 
angrily— 

" Gold ? — You buy the blood of our people with gold ? you 
give everything for yellow lead. I will not gold ! — I will the 
blood of the bad white man, who killed my friend with his 
knife !" 

" Blood ! — Nonsense !" blustered the alcalde. " Dy'e think 
we're going to hang a citizen of the United States, all for a red- 
skin ? And then, it's never been proved that he really was the 
man. Bring me witnesses — but white men, none of your brown 
yagabonds — witnesses who have seen the affair, and we'U go 
into it ; but till you can do that, I'm not going to bother 
about it." 

" JFhite men," retorted the chief angrily ; " I told you no- 
white man in our huts yesterday, but that one bad man. You 
know who it was. Measure knife he carries ; measure wound in 
dead man's breast ; twenty of our people saw him kill — call 
them, and let them speak." 

"lour whole tribe don't matter to me," replied the testy 
alcalde. " Just take away the corpse out of my tent. I can't 
imagine. Sheriff, how you can uphold him in such goings on." 

"The law says, in ' Section Twelve,' " answered Hale, " that in. 
all cases between white men and Indians, eitJier party may 
require to have a jury summoned.'^ 

" Do you want to teach me what the law says ?" retorted the 
Major, scarlet in the face with rage, " The law says that the 
Indians' complaints are left to the discretion of the judge." 

" Or of the ju.ry," said Hale quietly ; " after they have listened 
to the Indian's case." 

" And I have listened to his case !" shouted the Major, whose 
eyes seemed ready to start from his bloated face, with cboler. 
" So it's left to mi/ discretion ; and m^/ discretion tells me that I 
don't want a jury, and am not such a fool as to arrest a reckless 
fellow to-day, who may send a bullet through my head to-mor- 
row. So now then. Sheriff, when you're alcalde here, you can 
act according to your discretion ; but now I order you, in the 
name of the law, to turn the Indians, both live and dead, out of 



THE ALCALDE. 



179 



the tent in ^yllicll I am officially engaged. Do you understand 
me?" 

"Perfectly, Major/' answered the stolid sheriff; "and so far 
as your present official employment is concerned, I've my doubt 
as to its value ; and I think the rest of the fellows will have their 
doubts too, by the time they've sunk their holes fifteen feet into 
the hard earth." 

"What do you mean by that?" cried the judge, who had 
already settled dow^n to his book again, turning sharply round to 
him. 

"That your official engagements are no business of mine," 
answered the slieriff. " Come, Kesos, I'll put you in the way of 
bringing your complaint before the county court. There they'll 
decide whether our alcalde's discretion has led him right or wrong." 

The alcalde looked bowie-knives and revolvers at his mutinous 
sheriff, and cried out to him to stop ; but Hale left the tent, 
with a look of stolid indifference, not even turning his head at 
his superior's call. 

" Good," muttered the Indian between his set teeth, as he 
stooped to lift the dead body in his arms. " They will not believe 
red-man's witness, they shall have white -man's witness. I will 
give one to them." 

" I do believe the fellow's threatening us," sneered the alcalde, 
looking malignantly at the Indian from behind his book. Kesos 
paid no further attention to him, but turned and carried his 
sorrowful burden from the tent. 

"You ought to have granted the Indian a jury. Major," said 
one of the spectators, when the curtain had fallen behind Kesos, 
— " if it had only been for the sake of example." 

" I know what's best to be done," snarled the ruffled digni- 
tary, — " so now please to let the whole business drop. Now, in 
"what name do you want your claim registered ? " 

This question brought back the minds of all present to the 
business on which they had come. The Indian had disappeared 
with the body, and soon there was nothing heard in the alcalde's 
tent but discussion about gold that had been found, and gold 
that was still to be found, and claims where that gold might lie 
concealed. 

The sheriff had been waiting for the Indian outside the tent, 
and counselled him, strongly supported by Pischer, who hap- 
pened to be passing, to appeal to the county court without delay, 
inasmuch as the judge had undoubtedly acted contrary to the 
spirit of the law, and could be called to account for it and 
punished. 

N 2 



180 



THE EED EARTH. 



"Yes, with gold! " ansvrered the chief, disdainfully. "One 
•white-man vv^ill pay fine to another white-man — will that help 
Indian ? Tvo/' he continued, as Hale and Fischer were about to 
interpose — " I know Americans now ; I see they will not give 
justice to the red-man — I will try another way.'' 

" But the sheriff is an American too/' said Eischer, " and he 
wants to get justice done to you." 

The Indian v/ent up to Hale, seized his hand, and said, not 
without emotion — 

" Sheriff has been good to me — Kesos thanks him — Kesos will 
not forget it when the time comes." 

"I say, Fischer," whispered honest Hale, uneasily — "Tm 
afraid the poor fellow has some plan of revenge in his head ; and 
no wonder. But do me, or ratber him, the favour to talk him 
out of it. They can gain nothing by force, poor devils, for we 
should ruin them directly the first bow was bent against us. 
They'd be driven back into the snowy mountains, and would die 
there like flies in autumn." 

The Indian was not to be persuaded. He lifted the dead body 
on his horse, and rode back in the direction whence he had come, 
v/ithout pausing once to look round him. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE EED EAETH. 

The Indian was soon forgotten; indeed, few had ever cared 
about him or his grievances. But the sheriff, an honest and, 
upon occasion, a determined man, who saw through the alcaide 
more thoroughly than was at all agreeable to that righteous 
judge, would not let the matter rest, and had even discussed the 
matter at some length with a few of the most respectable 
Americans in the place. For the present it appeared manifest 
that nothing could be done ; for if the Indian did not appeal in 
person, of course no one cared to undertake such a ticklish 
affair for him. The culprit v/as, moreover, a citizen of the United 
States, though a worthless one ; and the wild " Yi estern men " 
all held together, and seemed to have an instinctive contempt 
and hatred for the Indians. The cunning alcalde knew that well 



THE TxED EAUTH. 



181 



enoiigb, and hence his reluctance to hear a complaint against 
one of them. 

Meanwhile, the " red ground/' which had so suddenly become 
popular, was industriously picked and shovelled, and dug over. 
Soon people ceased to trouble themselves about the lucky finders 
of the great lump of gold, for each one had his own interests to 
look after. The possessors of that treasure seemed also to have 
grov/n tired of exhibiting it to all comers ; and a few who re- 
quested to see it, were put off with the answer that "it had 
already been packed up." 

The alcalde, who sat in his tent registering, had a fine time of 
it. Money poured in upon him in streams, and he soon forgot, 
amid his pleasant occupation, the disagreeable episode of the 
Indian. l)ut the sheriff sallied out into the flat, stopped for a 
minute or two on the edge of the hole where the party were at 
work who had given the first impulse to this new industry, and 
finally descended into the pit itself, where he had a long and, as it 
seemed, a very interesting conversation with its occupants. At 
any rate, the three Americans let their spades and pickaxes rest, 
so long as he remained there, and on his departure began singing-- 
the regular Californian ditty — " Oh, Susannah, don't you cry for 
me ! " — with such an appearance of hearty enjoyment, that some 
neighbouring diggers came running up, to ask if they had found 
a second lump, that they were so merry. 

The sheriff' walked back to his tent, rubbing his hands as he 
went, with a look of great satisfaction and glee. 

Our three German friends — Lamberg, Ilufner, and Binderhof, 
had commenced active operations in their claims. It was 
terribly heavy work for them ; and their hands — never very hard, 
and further softened by the inactivity of a long voyage — were soon 
so lamentably blistered, that they could scarcely manage to grasp 
the heavy pickaxes and spades. Lamberg, of course, tried to 
spare himself as much as possible. He might have succeeded 
well enough with Hufner ; but Binderhof would stand no non- 
sense ; for, like m.ost people constitutionally averse to hard v/ork, 
he was anxious, when at last obliged to exert himself, that none 
of his comrades should be idle. 

Even the Counsellor had caught the contagion of the general 
industry, so that he resolved to begin work on his own account — 
in furtherance of which resolve he very quietly, instead of pur- 
chasing a claim for himself, began to dig a hole in one of the 
many squares already marked out and numbered. About an 
hour after he had begun, the proprietor came up and sent him 
off. The Counsellor, who found the ground particularly hard. 



1S2 



THE PvED EAETH. 



and did not care to over-exert himself, had almost made up his 
mind to go, and therefore gave in contentedly enough. He 
shouldered the very light pickaxe with which he worked, together 
with his shovel and tin pan, and went strolling up the next hill, 
more with the intention of having a good look round him than 
with any fixed purpose of resuming his gold-digging labours, 
when his old acquaintance the Comet ran right against him. 

At first the actuary seemed to hope that his creditor of the 
last evening had not recognized him, for the Counsellor had a 
peculiarity of staring straight up at the sky as he walked. So 
Korbel stepped aside on the desperate chance of gaining the 
shelter of some friendly bush, and so letting his compatriot go 
on his way unconscious and undisturbed. But the Counsellor's 
sharp " Good day, Mr. Actuary ! quickly showed him the fallacy 
of this hope ; so, with an admirable air of pleased surprise, he 
exclaimed, — 

Ah ! — the Counsellor, I declare. I hardly knew you at first, 
with your pickaxe and spade. Come out to try your luck ?" 

" Hum I — yes ; — confounded hard ground. Got home safely 
last night 

" Who ? — I ? Why yes, thank you. But, my dea*! Coun- 
sellcr, I had a great misfortune last night. ^' 

You ? Ah ! yes — at play. Why do you play ?" 

" I play ? No, indeed,''^ answered the unblushing Comet ; "I 
don't even know the cards. But you remember I told you I had 
left my purse in mv tent." 

^^Yes. Well?" 

''Well— only think I — when I got home, and looked for it, I 
found it was gone." 

'• Who ? — what ? — the purse ?" 

"Clean vanished, sir; stolen by some worthless scoundrel or 
ether. And I had two hundred dollars' worth of gold in it, my 
whole earnings from last month, which I had scraped together 
with hard work and labour." 

"Thought as much," grumbled the Counsellor. 

" Though so ? No one could think so ; for I never knew an 
instance of anything being stolen from a Californian tent 
before." 

"And my eight dollars?" asked the Counsellor, who might 
have substituted the word "knew" for "'thought," without 
altering his meaning. 

" Why, they were to have been paid out of the purse," said 
the actuary, violently keeping down a grin. "' But never mind, 
you. may make yourself quite easy; California's a place, luckily, 



THE EED EAETF. 



183 



-where a man may win two hundred dollars almost as quickly as 
he can lose them; and your debt shall be paid honestly and 
honourably from the very next money I get. I've secured a 
capital place, one of the best claims here in the nevv^ flat, where I 
2nay make good my whole loss at any moment." 

" Very good — hope you may— good morning !" said the Coun- 
sellor, turning away to resume his walk. 

" Good morning to you. Counsellor ! " replied the actuary, 
taking off his hat politely, and then making off at a good pace 
towards the town. He seemed rather relieved at thus getting 
rid of his creditor. 

In the Paradise nothing was now talked of but the treasures 
concealed in the " red earth." Three or four accounts, all 
greatly embellished, went forth as "notices^^ to the SanErancisco 
papers, and could not fail to attract the attention of the gold- 
washers to the new spot, and to induce some of them to try their 
fortune there. Whether these new comers found their expecta- 
tions realized was a matter of indifference ; at any rate, they 
would be obliged to buy provisions so long as they stayed and 
v^orked. 

The hardness of the soil prevented the diggers from getting 
at the stratum where they could really expect to find gold, so soon 
as usual ; for, whereas two or three days had usually sufficed to 
bring the workmen to the depth where something at least was 
found to reward them, they were here compelled to labour most 
strenuously for a whole week, without meeting with the slightest 
encouragement. The "red earth" consisted, as we have already 
stated, of exceedingly stiff clay, full of little bits of pebble and 
quartz ; and the heaviest pickaxe, wielded by the brawniest arm, 
Gould scarcely be driven more than an inch at a time into its 
stony surface. 

But no one cared for that. The people had seen the heavy 
lump of gold — or, what was worse, they had heard it described — 
and were determined to find similar pieces for themselves, though 
they toiled for it day after day in the sweat of their brows. They 
consoled themselves with the thought that diggers' work was 
nowhere very light, but that here, at any rate, they had the 
advantage of being sure of a result, whereas elsewhere ihey toiled 
only on a chance. 

^ Eischer, who had been for a long time a v^^anderer among the 
different mines, had not been induced to try his luck in this 
hopeful spot. He and Count Beckdorf continued steadily work- 
ing together at the upper part of the " devil's water;" where they 
'were not making a fortune, but, as they said, earning very good 



184 



THE BED EAETH. 



"wages — five or six dollars a day each. Johnny, also, was absent 
somewhere among the hills ; but he kept his whereabout a secret. 
It was, however, conjectured that he had not found much, as he 
did not appear in the drinking-tents for two or three evenings. 
His friends did not know that on the evening when he followed 
the player, his whole capital — some seven hundred dollars — ^had 
found their way into Mr. Smith's leather money-bag. 

A full week had passed away with no more remarkable occur- 
rence than the arrival of large parties of diggers from the neigh- 
bouring mines ; and even from San Erancisco came many who 
had read in the papers of the great lump — or nugget, as the 
Australians called it, — and wished to begin their operations on 
the favoured spot whicli had given it birth. 

Startling reports began to fiy about of murders said to have 
been perpetrated in the neighbourhood by Mexicans, who had 
assembled in considerable force, and by English convicts. The 
Americans asserted that a whole cargo of malefactors, whom the 
Australian colonists would not allow to be landed, had been shot 
out on the Californian coast from the port of San Francisco. 

This was of course a fable. But several ships had actually 
come with ticket- of-leave men among their other passengers. 
Still the story — such as it was — gained considerable belief; and 
meetings were held, at which the expediency of turning all 
strangers from the mines, or, at least, of disarming them, wasr 
openly canvassed. 

In all these assemblies a particular hatred was manifested 
against the English, Irish, and Mexicans, to whose charge every 
crime committed was laid; and it was nothing less than the 
perfect security that existed in the " Paradise," combined with 
the new interest awakened by the recent discovery, that could have 
prevented the inhabitants from following the example set in 
Sonora and other mining towns, where all foreigners had been 
deprived of their weapons, and the Mexicans actually driven 
away. 

The alcalde took no part in these debates. Whatever he, as 
an American, might think of the matter, he had too great a 
pecuniary interest in the strangers, as judge of the peace, lightly 
to take part against them. But it seemed strange that this 
pacific man should have quarrelled with the three Americans who 
had found the lump of gold, and with whom he had hitherto 
been on very intimate terms. He went to see them several 
times ; and each time he descended into their deep hole, sounds 
of violent debate were heard issuing from thence — sounds which 
ceased on the approach of a stranger. After each visit of the 



THE EED EAKTH. 



185 



kind the judge would return to his tent witli a very red, wrathful 
countenance, while the three Americans sang taimtinglj after 
him, — 

•* Oh, Susannah, don't you cry for me ; 
I'm going: to California, with a washbowl on my knee." 

They had sunk their hole to a depth of twelve feet without 
obtaining any further result, as far as their neighbours knew. 
This excited little remark, as most old diggers are very close 
I with respect to their gains or losses. But what did excite 
remark was, that one morning the men were missing from their 
hole ; and a report spread that they had begun to dig beside one 
of the mountain streams in the neighbourhood, leaving untouched 
two claims they had marked off, to the right and left of their own 
bole. 

Then, for the first time, suspicion began to spread among the 
diggers that they had been hoaxed, and that the lump of gold had 
[ not been found in the hole at all. 

I The most industrious among them had dug fourteen or fifteen 
\ feet into the earth, and not anything of real value had turned up. 
i| Of coarse there were traces of gold there as everywhere else ; 
I but the greatest amount actually obtained did not half suffice to 
j pay the expenses of the seekers during the time they were 
employed in the search. 

Suspicion being once aroused, the people began workiug out 
I the idea. They were wondering whafe could have induced the 
j three Americans to deceive them, supposing the history of the 
lump to be a falsehood, when the sheriff gave a very simple solu- 
tion of the vfhole mystery. 

Twelve days had elapsed since the morning when the first rush 
was made towards the red flat. No labourer had been half repaid 
for his toil, and many had already left the place in despair, when one 
day the sheriff came into one of the dining-tents at mid-day, when 
about thirty of his countrymen were sitting at the table, eating. 

" Hallo, Hale ! " cried an acquaintance ; " have you deserted 
your old boarding-house ? Come and sit here, old man, there's 
room enough for you, and as tough a bit of meat as you'd wish 
to stick your blessed teeth into." 

'•'MacCarthy has put that on tbe table for us, to remind us of 
the rascally red earth, where one's pickaxe can no more dig into 
the confounded cement than one's teeth can here into the meat. 
I've been chewing at a bit for a quarter of an hour, and it seems 
to get larger and larger in my mouth." 

''Be hanged to the red earth," growled another ; "don't spoil 



186 



THE HED EAETH. 



our appetites. I'm glad enough when I can forget the place for 
a minute or two. To-morrow's the last day I shall try; if I don't 
find a lump, deuce take me if I turn up a single stone more." 

" Well, come here, Hale, and sit down, or your dinner will be 
cold." 

" Thank you, no. Briars — I've had my dinner — but ^vhat did I 
tell you and Bowling, and you. Green, when you went running 
into the flat at that mad rate, eh ! " 

" Well, but what was one to do, when they'd dug such a lump 
out of the ground tliere ? " answered Briars, looking rather 
foolish. 

" Did you see it dug out of the ground ? " asked the sheriff. 

" Who — I ? Why, not exactly," answered the man, with an. 
astonished look at his questioner. 

"Did any one see it dug out ? " asked the sheriff again. 

"Well, not that I know of," said Green; "but — you don't 
mean to say— I can't believe — confound it — if I knew for certain 
that the rascally Hoosiers have hoaxed us, I'd go and break every 
bone in the body of every one of them." 

"Don't be afraid; they w^on't escape punishment," said the 
sheriff, with a laugh. " The alcalde's going to proceed against 
them himself." 

" What ! " cried the gold-washers, jumping up from their 
seats ; " then the whole thing was a cheat." 

" Yes, it was, and you can't even complain ; for it was your 
own fault that you went digging in the red earth. You did it of 
your own free-will, and no one persuaded you to go there ; — but 
the poor alcalde has come rather badly out of the affair." 

" The alcalde ! — why, he hasn't been digging at all. But 
what's the matter with you. Hale, all on a sudden ? You keep 
chuckling to yourself, and you're keeping something back. Out 
v/ith it, Hale ; — what is it ? " 

The table was by this time almost deserted ; for the diggers 
felt far too deep an interest in the question under discussion, not 
to gather round, in hopes of hearing more. Hale really seemed 
to have something on his mind; and it could not be sympathy 
for the alcalde, for every one knew the state of affairs between 
them; but whatever it was, he seemed in high glee; and at last 
said, scarcely restraining his laughter, — 

" The poor worthy Major ! — he thought so much about your 
welfare, and was so much afraid lest you should lose heart here 
in the mines ; and now for him to be treated in that way ! — it's 
really too bad." 

"But who has treated him in that way ? — and in what way do 



THE BED EAP.TH. 



187 



you mean ? asked Briars, angrily. " Who the deuce is to make 
sense out of your nonsense, Sheriff ? " 

" Well, I mean the three Hoosiers," said Hale. " He lent 
them the lump of gold that was found six or eight months ago 
near the Macalome." 

Lent it them ? " roared nine or ten fellows together, as they 
pressed more eagerly round him. 

" That's quite impossible," cried Briars. " I saw with my own 
eyes the red earth sticking to the bit of gold." 

" That's a convincing proof that the gold had lain among the 
red earth," laughed the sherifp ; " and would settle the whole 
question at once, if you could prove it impossible for the Hoosiers 
to have rubbed a little red sand in the crevices by hand. But, 
be that as it may, our worthy Major 'loaned' them the lump in 
the most disinterested way ; — of course the few hundred dollars 
he made by registering the fresh claims hadn't anything to do 
with it, — and now it appears the ungrateful Hoosiers won't hand 
over the gold." 

"Won't hand it over? " repeated one of the audience. 

" No, that they wont," continued the sheriff. " They declare 
it's the Major's place to prove that they did not find it themselves, 
as he himself asserted to every one who asked him about it. 
Besides, they say it was only to please him they dug the deep 
hole in the cursed tough clay, — and they hadn't found anything 
for their pains, except, of course, that one lump." 

"Ha! — ha! — ha!" shouted Briars, "just serves him right ; 
that's the best punishment for the rascal, — and he shall handout 
our money that he got for registering new claims, into the 
bargain." 

"Ah!" observed the sherifP; "then I can't have you for 
jurymen, — for it seems to me you've agreed upon your verdict 
already." 

"Jury ! " cried Green. " What do you want with a jury ? " 

" The alcalde really means to proceed against the Hoosiers," 
said the sheriff. " I certainly gave him a bit of good advice ; — 
told him he'd much better hold his tongue, and make up his 
mind to lose the few hundred dollars ; but he's so mad upon the 
fellows, that he's determined to go on." 

" And did he really give them the lump, just to cheat us ? " 
cried a man from among the crowd. 

"He's ready to declare it upon oath," said the sherif, with 
mock solemnity; "and he expects, from the sense of justice 
so remarkable among the community here, that they'll " 

"Break his bones for him," interrupted Green, in a fury. 



188 



THE EED EAETH. 



A cheating scoundrel like that wants to be alcalde and judge- 
here, and isn't ashamed to use us, who chose him, for his own 
rascally purposes." 

"Gentlemen/' said the sheriff, gravely, "you see the affair 
quite in a wrong light. The good of the whole state must not 
be sacrificed to individual interest ; and tiie measure w^as adopted 
for the benefit of the community at large. Besides, no one can 
deny that you raiglit have found gold in the red flat." 

" We'll give it him, for the good of the community," cried 
Eriars. ''I'll go to him now, and if he don't give me back 
my two dollars, I'll have up the whole flat, to speak to him." 

"Briars — Briars," the sheriff called after him, "whatever you 
do, don't go making a disturbance " 

But Briars had ah'eady rushed, in hot haste, out of the tent, 
and was follow^ed in a few moments by the whole company, who 
ran out to act upon his suggestion. Hale looked after them for 
a minute, till tiiey disappeared at a turn in the road ; and then 
walked off in another direction, rubbing his hands in a very con- 
tented way. 

He had done just what be intended. The knavery of the 
alcalde, whom he had long suspected, had been discovered, and 
the Major would have to hold his own as best he could, against 
his enraged clients. That he himself should keep out of the way 
for the rest of the day, was all he had to do ; and he accordingly 
set out on a long walk among the mountains. 

As soon as he had the town behind him, he turned off to the 
right, towards the hills ; and passing the Prussian fortification, 
where the sentry was rather incongruously employed stirring a 
huge pot of broth with one hand, while he grasped his musket in a 
warlike manner in the other, he went on, by the side of the 
"Devil's Water," and soon reached the wooded hills which 
enclosed the narrow valley. 

Eew countries are richer in natural beauties than California ; 
and its lofty trees, in particular, form a very remarkable feature. 
Oaks of huge dimensions, covered with large and tolerably sweet 
aconas, skirted the foot of the hill; while further up, cedars, 
fia:s, and pines lifted up their slender arms towards heaven. 

The cedars, with their reddish stem^s of gigantic height and their 
fragrant evergreen leaves, were in themselves enough to impart 
beauty and interest to the scene. They grew amid thick under- 
wood—a peculiar kind of bush growing in many branches from a 
single root, and looking, with its fresh green leaves and deli- 
cate blossoms, almost like a bouquet put together by a tasty 
florist. 



THE EED EARTH. 



189 



The sheriff had often looked upon the scene; but stiil he 
paused every now and then to enjoy the view, or to contemplate 
some particular group of trees which opened at intervals through 
breaks in the thick foliage. 

At length he had gained the summit of a hill and threw him- 
:self on the grass, beneath a pine tree, to look round him at his 
leisure. 

For like a view seen through a camera obscura, reduced to 
infinitesimal proportions, but every outline sharply defined, and 
clearly visible through the thin pure mountain air, lay the little 
busy town in the far distance, with its busy streets swaraiing 
with human life, its white tents ; and little waggons with tilts of 
white sailcloth, creeping to and fro through the streets, and up 
the road where the mountain stream had burst through into the 
valley ; and among the overhanging rocks might be distinctly 
seen the tiny figures of travellers toiling slowly along, with the 
sunlight shining full upon them. 

Suddenly the sheriff drew a little telescope from his pocket, 
and remained for a couple of minutes looking steadfastly through 
it at the town. At last he seemed to have discovered what he 
sought, for the telescope ceased to move to and fro along the 
whole range of the town, and a gratified smile overspread the 
■gazer's features. 

"The bombshell has burst, sure enough," he muttered. "I 
shouldn't wonder if they pulled down his tent about his ears for 
him — how they're streaming into the town out of the red fiat ! 
Eriars must have m.ade a rare noise about it. Capital fellow, 
that Briars. If the blockhead had only had the sense to hold his 
tongue about the matter, no one could have proved anything 
against him. The Hoosiers would have kept counsel for their 
own sakes, — and after all, his money was gone. That no jury of 
miners would give him a verdict, he might have known very well. 
But his own cursed avarice got him into the scrape, and now 
he'll have to bear the brunt of it. Much good may it do you, 
my worthy friend. Ha, ha, — how he'll sing out for the sheriff to 
<;ome and make them keep the peace ; and while he's shouting- 
out for Hale to come and help him. Hale is a mile or so avv^ay on 
the mountains, looking at the row through a spy-glass — and 
when he comes back, it will be to convene a meeting for electing 
a new alcalde. If we don't get rid of the Major now, he'll stick 
to us for ever." 

Suiting the action to the word, he again had recourse to his 
telescope, and turned it upon the town ; but though he could 
•distinctly see the groups of men passing to and fro, the glass 



190 



THE KED EAETH. 



was not sufficiently poTverful nor was be near enough to the 
scene of action, to make out what they were about. 

Nevertheless, he shut up his telescope with a very satisfied 
smile, and returned it to his pocket ; then he again stretched 
himself on the soft grass ; and lay there so long, looking up at 
the sky through the branches, that he at last fell into a light 
slumber. 

The sun was fast sinking towards the west, when he at last 
awoke, with a dim consciousness of voices in the neighbourhood. 
Perhaps a party of gold-washers were looking out a fresh place 
for their operations, — perhaps they were Indians, a whole tribe of 
Avhom were encamped in the neighbourhood, for the traces of a 
fire they had lighted were still visible. He had, however, no 
fears for his personal safety — for the Indians were in general 
harmless enough. They knew only too well that they could do 
nothing with their weak bows and arrows against the crowds of 
white men armed with rifles and revolvers. Even towards single 
travellers they were generally pacific ; — avoiding them if they 
could, greeting them submissively when they met, and never 
attempting to molest them. 

In the town — whither he now thought of turning his foot- 
steps — peace seemed to be re-established. Here and there, groups 
still lingered, apparently in converse. The " red earth " was 
quite deserted — not a single miner remained there at work. 

Meantime the voices came nearer ; and from the sharp nasal 
tones of some of the speakers, the sheriff judged they v*^ere 
Mexicans, or at any rate Americans from the South. The 
Me:jdcans were not, at that time, in very good repute ; and several 
murders, in various parts of the country had been attributed to 
them. But the sheriff had his revolver, without which he seldom 
stirred out ; and was, moreover, a fearless, determined man. 
So he remained quietly under his tree, to await the approach of 
the strangers. 

His conjecture was correct enough : he soon descried the gay 
ponchos, which they wore over their shoulders^ glimmering^ 
through the bushes. They were Mexicans, three tall stalwart 
fellows with curly beards and sunburnt faces, and among them, 
in rather rapid eager converse,— the sheriff almost started to see 
him in such company, — went his old acquaintance the Indian 
chief Kesos, who seemed so engrossed in the talk that was 
going on, that he never saw the white man on the ground. 

Presently they stopped quite near him, without stopping their 
conversation; but unfortunately they spoke in Spanish, and the 
sheriff could not understand a word of what they said. Before 



THE EED EA^TH. 



191 



he could make up liis mind \yhether he should stay where he 
was, or advance boldly towards them, the little Indian boy who 
stood near, holding a horse for the chief and another for himself, 
littered a low warning cry, and the next moment the chief's eyes 
were fixed sharply upon the American as he lay on the ground. 

"Hallo, Kesos ! " he began, rising slowly, "are you still here 
in the neighbourhood? — I thought you'd gone back to your 
tribe long enough ago." 

The Indian did not answer; he seemed to be trying to dis- 
cover, from the expression of the sheriff's face, whether he had 
understood their discourse. But he soon seemed to remember 
that the sheriff conld scarcely have overheard them, or that he 
did not understand Spanish, for his face cleared, and with a 
friendly nod tO Hale, he said, — • 

" Not yet — Kesos is a great Capitano — many tribes look up 
to him. He returns to the Witongs to-morrow." 

The sheriff had now risen ; and laying his hand kindly on the 
Indian's shoulder, he continued, gently, — 

" That's right, Kesos — and I'd give something to be sure that 
you won't alter your mind. If you'll take my advice, you'll be 
very cautious how you meddle with those Spaniards, with whom 
you seemed to be uncommonly thick just now." 

" What do you mean ? " asked the Indian warily. 

".You'll understand what I mean, well enough," answered the 
sheriff quietly. " They're a cowardly, rascally lot, with no fixed 
homes here. They're ready at any time to make a row, and 
don't much care if they get the best of it or not. At the worst, 
they can take their wooden bowls and crowbars, and be oft' in 
the night to some other place ; but you who have your homes 
here, would be the worst off." 

" I do not understand you," said the cliief gloomily. 

" So much the worse for you," retorted Hale — and with a nod 
to the chief he turned, without casting a single glance at the 
Mexicans, and walked away down the incline, in the direction, 
of the town. 



192 



TPIE GEEMAN COMFANY. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

THE GEEITAN COMPANY. 

SHErjPF Hale no longer looked with complacency at the 
glorious trees, or the golden tints the setting sun was pouring 
over the landscape. He had no e^^es for the beauties of the 
scene around; for the encounter with the Mexicans, the warning 
cry of the little Indian boy, and the sudden silence of the men 
themselves, had set him on a train of thought which occupied 
him disagreeably. 

Hale was far too much of a patriot to doubt for one moment 
that his countrymen would be able to keep possession of the 
country, even if all the strangers in the land rose up with one 
accord against them ; but he knew the character of the Indians 
too well to look without apprehension on the probability of an 
alliance between them and the Mexicans. Left to their own 
resources, there was no fear of their attempting anything hostile; 
but urged on by a set of worthless Mexicans, who would not 
hesitate to promise them every possible assistance, even though 
they deserted them in the hour of danger, the affair wore a very 
different aspect. 

All about the mountains little parties of Americans or foreigners 
had located themselves, chiefly for the purpose of exploring the 
beds of the different streams in search of gold. Most of them 
certainly were armed, — but no one was prepared for an attack by 
the Indians ; and much innocent blood might be spilt before the 
Americans would be able to assemble, to drive away the enemy. 

The young Indian Kesos, so far as he knew him, was an honest, 
well-meaning fellow, — but still he was an Indian, whose con- 
fidence it is always difncult to gain. He was just the man to 
carry out any mad scheme on which he might set his heart. 
He certainly possessed great influence. The tribes obeyed him 
implicitly, as the sheriff very well knew, and he could lead them 
alike for good or for evil. 

"He would not be wrong, either," soliloquized the sheriff, as 
he strode rapidly down the steep incline, to reach the town before 
nightfall ; " and if I were in his place, and saw a set of strangers 



THE GEEMAN COMPANY. 



193 



taking away mile after mile of land from me, killing or driv- 
ing away my game, spoiling my lislieries, and playing the 
mischief generally, I don't think I should take it all quite quietly; 
I fancy I should cut as many of their throats as I could ; — but 
poor devils, what good would it do them ? They can't do any- 
thing against us, and their doom was sealed the day the first bit 
of gold was found amongst these hills. Wonderful thing that 
gold ! — how people risk their lives and everything else on the 
chance of getting a handful of yellow dust." 

His contemplations were here interrupted by a loud shout. 
He looked up and saw an American of his acquaintance beckon- 
ing violently to him. 

"Oh, Hale — Hale! " he cried; "deuce take it, man, where 
have you been hiding all the afternoon ? You've been sought 
for like a needle in a bundle of hay." 

"Hallo, Nolten!" answered the sheriff, going up to him; "who 
has been wanting me ? Ain't it a queer thing that I can't ever 
go out on my own business without there being a shindy some- 
where or other. What was it ? " 

" So you've been out prospecting with your revolver ! '' observed 
Nolteu, with a grin. "Hale, Hale — I should think you a 
pretty sheriff, if I were alcalde — from which Heaven preserve 
me!" 

"How so?" asked Hale; but not quite so innocently as he 
could have wished, " They certainly didn't want me up in the 
mountains, where you come from." 

" No, not exactly," said Nolten, with another grin ; " I only 
went over there half an hour ago, to bring back the crowbar I 
left there yesterday. I've been in the town all the afternoon ; 
and they've been making such a disturbance there, you might 
have heard it five miles off." 

"And what's been the matter ?" 

"Come, come, don't look quite so green," retorted Nolten; 
"Eriars told m.e himself that it was you who put them up to it." 

" I ! D'ye mean the affair about the lump of gold ? There 
was nothing to put them up to ; fcr the alcalde was bent on 
making a hullabaloo about it ; and Fm to summon a jury for 
him to meet to-morrow morning to prosecute the Hcosiers. 
You must be a juryman, Nolten." 

" The jury won't be wanted," said Nolten. " The alcalde has 
made himself scarce ; and I hardly think he'll be back by to- 
morrow morning." 

What ! — has the Major gone ?" roared the sheriff, purple in 
the face with suppressed laughter. 

o 



194 



THE GEEMAN COMPANY. 



" Gone, sir V was the reply. " The lump of gold stove m his 
cask for him, and a lot of still dirtier things came rolling out. 
The scamp may thank his lucky stars that he's got off so cheaply. 
He deserved much v/orse than merely to be sent away." 

"Well, I think the Hoosiers have riled him considerably." 

*^Pooh — nonsense, man ! the gold that he lost through them 
has been pretty well made up to him in registering-fees, so that 
he don't lose much ; but they found out that he had false weights, 
and that did his business for him." 

" False weights ! Well, that's rather strong," muttered the 
sheriff. That's why my gold was half an ounce short the other 
day!'; 

" Jim, the longlventuckian," continued Nolten, "too£ his leaden, 
weights away, and went to Burton's tent to have them tested. 
The whole lot of miners followed him ; and the Major seemed to 
have a notion of what was brewing, for when they came back he 
was gone. lie had had his horse all ready saddled somewhere 
in the neighbourhood, and went off without saying good-bye to 
anybody. Some of the fellows were for following him up, and 
making him give up his booty : but we didn't let them ; we 
v^'cre glad to have got rid of him for good and all. Now you're 
to be alcalde.'^ 

"I?" said Hale. "That would be a stupid business. If I 
could flourish the pen like my butcher's knife I sliouldn't have 
any objection; but, as it is, they'll have to choose seme one else. 
What a rage the Major will be in about our poor Paradise !" 

"Kcver mind; Vv^e've turned him out of it," said Nolten, 
laughing. "I'm heartily glad of it ; for what must the strangers 
think of us Americans while such a thief is our judge. I only 
wish wx'd some thoroughly practical fellow in his place ; for I 
fear there will be some bother soon, — not with the foreigners only, 
but with our own people. Those rascally gambling chaps are 
growing worse every day with their impudence ; and some time 
or other they'll be too strong for us." 

"Pooh! — we'll manage them well enough," answered Hale, 
confidently; "and, as wx've got rid of the Major, I don't care 
about the rest. The people seem to have got over their grief at 
parting with him pretty soon." 

The tw^o men had by this time reached the little town. In the 
tents there was quite a merry stir and excitement ; and, strangely 
enough, there was quite a gathering of laughing, dancing men 
around the three Hoosiers. 

The three fellows had certainly taken in the whole community, 
and caused hundreds of them to toil in vain for more than a week. 



THE GEEMAX COMPANY. 



195 



But as tliey tlieniselves had worked, too, in tlie liope of finding 
something, and had, moreover, beaten the alcalde so capitally 
v/ith his own weapons, and mulcted him of his big lump of gold, 
their deceit was heartily forgiven ; and, wherever they showed 
themselves, they were the heroes of the hour. 

Eor that evening nothing was done except that there were regular 
drinking-bouts in many of the tents, while the great events of the 
day were talked over. But next morning it was considered neces- 
sary that a new alcalde should be chosen ; and, as Nolten had 
predicted, the first offer was made to the sheriff. 

Hale was well known as an honest, straightforward, and, when, 
occasion required, a determined man ; and his election was warmly 
supported by all, even including the strangers, who would unani- 
mously have returned him ; but he refused to accept a post to the 
duties of which he v/as unequal. His acquaintance with the sta- 
tutes was a very partial one, nor was he particularly strong in the 
arts of reading and writing. On the other hand, he was too con- 
scientious to undertake a responsibility he could not fulfil. 

Kolten, a quiet, sedate man, of well-know integrity, was next 
nominated ; but he likewise declined, on the ground that he did 
not wish to tie himself to one locality. If he became alcalde, he 
would have to stay in the town; and that was not his object in 
coming to California. 

No definite result was attained ; and at last the people decided 
upon waiting and doing as best they might without an alcalde 
till a proper candidate came into the field, rather than elect a 
second Major Kyot. Hale, meanwhile, was obliged to undertake 
any pressing duties that might arise during the interregnum. 

There was one part of the community who had looked down 
with sublime indifference upon the whole bustle and turmoil. 
The Germans, who had come to California for the one sole object 
of digging gold, took no part in what the Americans chose to do ; 
and their only interest in the whole afi'air arose from the indigna- 
tion they felt at the alcalde, through whose means they had been 
mulcted of two dollars apiece, and set to dig day after day in a 
claim not worth a cent. 

Lamberg, Binderhof, and Hufner, who had penetrated, by a 
week's strenuous exertion, about five feet into the stony earth, 
now at once began in a fresh spot, where, at any rate, the work 
would be easier ; and the Counsellor, v^ho had never laboured in 
the "red earth more than a couple of hours at a stretch, con- 
tinued his solitary task in some of the most unlikely spots in the 
whole neighbourhood. 

As the gold-washers had found little or no gold in the deep 
o 2 



196 



THE GEMAN COMPANY. 



earth of the red flat, he persuaded himself that the precious metal 
had not been washed down into the valley at all, but still lay 
concealed among the mountains ; and thus, two or three weeks 
afterwards, no little astonishment was excited in the minds of 
wandering Americans by the sight of a number of little holes 
sunk to the depth of two or three feet by the Counsellor, who 
invariably abandoned them without finding the slightest trace of 
gold. Old diggers, when they came upon one of the scenes of his 
spasmodic industry, would wonder why in the world any one had 
sunk a hole up there ; and one or two, who caught the miner at 
his work, asked him what he expected to find. But the Coun- 
sellor always looked askance at them, and began picking away 
with redoubled vigour, so that they had to go their way unin- 
structed. 

Another circumstance rendered the Counsellor very dissatisfied 
with life as he found it in the mines. Almost every comfort and 
luxury to which he had been accustomed was here wanting. At 
home he had never troubled his head about anything beyond the 
limits of his profession. Here he was not only required to earn 
his livelihood by the use of very heavy, cambersome tools, but 
was obliged to cook for himself, and to make his own bed — two 
very great hardships for a man like the Counsellor. 

With his linen too, he had very bad fortune. He had carried 
bis things to the old negro, and thought no more about the 
matter. At home, his linen was always brought to his house by 
a laundress, curtseying humbly ; and here, where he paid four 
times as much for it, of course he expected the same thing. But 
old Tomlins never made his appearance; and at length the 
Counsellor had used all the shirts he had brought to the mines 
with him, and was obliged to go and see after his things himself, 
as no one could take the trouble off his shoulders. 

Though he had once beeninTomlins's tent, the Counsellor had 
entirely forgotten its whereabout. He therefore applied to the 
first Americans he met, and asked them for the " wash-nigger." 

Either they did not, or would not, understand the few English 
words he blurted out in his usual abrupt style ; for they only 
stared at him — perhaps thought him intoxicated, — and went on 
without answering his question. This did not improve our 
friend's humour ; and lie was about to turn back, resolving to 
get Bufner to go dovm for him in the evening, when a man came 
towards him, a German evidently, v/hose face and figure the 
Counsellor seemed to recollect. The black tail-coat the stranger 
wore soon settled the question of his identity, though his face 
was half concealed in a thick shawl. It was the tenor^ whom he 



THE GERMAN COMPANY. 



197 



had not seen again since that first evening wlien tliey had met in 
the wine-seller's tent. The artist did not seem to have im- 
proved in his circumstances, rlis clothes were lamentably torn, 
and the poor tail-coat, in particular, was scarcely recognizable. 
The black silk hat, too, converted by sun, rain, and the dews of 
night into an ill-formed reddish mass, hung limp upon his head ; 
and in his left hand — his right was concealed in his pocket — ^he 
dangled the remains of what had once been a kid glove. 

The Counsellor, however, was not a very observant man. He 
only remembered that the wearer of the black tail-coat had spoken 
German ; and, going straight up to him, with the dark frown 
which had in old times struck terror into many a quaking v/it- 
ness, he pronounced the single word — "Wash-nigger !" 

"I — I beg your pardon," stammered the poor singer, looking 
very much embarrassed; "I think you are mistaken in the 
person." 

" No," replied the Counsellor ; " fetching shirts ; don't know 
where confounded nigger lives," 

"Ah! you want old Tomlins ?" cried the young man, good- 
naturedly; "if you will allow me, I will take you to him." 

The Counsellor nodded — his usual way of accepting a service, 
— and the tenorist walked down the street by his side. 

''"Well," he asked, "and how have you got on in the mines, 
since the first evening we saw each other ? Have you found 
much gold ?" 

"Who, I?" replied the Counsellor, to whom it occurred, for 
the first time, that he had never found a single grain in his tin 
pan; "why, no, — not much. Confounded country — all lies — all 
a sham; should have found just as much gold in Darmstadt as 
here." 

"Do you really think so ?" inquired Mr. Bublioni, looking at 
him in amazement. " Gold in the mountains there !" 

" Shouldn't be such a fool as to look for it tliere^' growled 
the Counsellor. " Have you found anything ?" 

" Not much — but, at any rate, something," v/as the young 
man's modest reply ; and he coughed slightly, and wrapped his 
shawl closer round his throat, as he continued. " .But the 
climate doesn't suit me at all, and I am afraid I shall lose my 
voice. So I have devoted myself more to speculation than to 
real work." 

" Speculation ?" asked the Counsellor, who had a very in- 
different opinion of everything of the kind — " hem ! — bad place 
for it, California." 

'^Well, I should think not," remarked Bublioni, rather 



198 



THE GEEMAN COMPANY. 



anxiously. "I certainly could only begin in a very small way ; 
but my partner, who lias been for some time in California, and 
with whom I have worked for some weeks, has taken our joint 
earnings, and is going to invest them in provisions at Stockton, 
which he hopes to sell at a good profit here in the mines. I expect 
him back every day ; and I really am anxious that he should return 
soon, for my rheumatism so incapacitates me for all kinds of 
work, that for the last week I have earned nothing." 

" Indeed !" observed his companion, not particularly pleased 
at the last communication. It looked too much like the in- 
troduction to a request for a loan, and he had gained bitter 
experience as a lender. "A German — your partner !" 

" Yes," ansv/ered the singer; "you know him, perhaps: the 
actuary, Kolber !" 

''Comet?" cried the Counsellor, with open ejes, 

"I beg your pardon — Kolber. But here is the tent you 
wanted to find ; old Tomlins lives here." 

"Oh! — thank you," said the Counsellor; "well, hope you'll 
do a good trade." 

"1 hope so," answered the tenor, smiling; "you see it's a 
first attempt — a first appearance on the theatre of speculation, 
where the public is the only arbiter of failure or success. I wish 
you a very good day. Counsellor." 

The Counsellor had, however, already disappeared in the 
interior of the tent, and had not even heard the last words. 

The tent was the rigiit one ; for, just at the entrance, the 
Counsellor found the old negro, sitting with a pair of trowsers 
across his knees, adding another patch to the collection which 
already adorned them. He neither rose at the entrance of his 
visitor, nor even paused in his occupation, but only nodded at 
the Counsellor, and inquired — ' 

" Come for your washing ?" 

"Yes," replied the Counsellor, seeking to make up for his 
defective knowledge of English by vehement lavatory gestures 
with his hands. Old Tomlins, without even looking up from his 
work, pointed with the thumb of his right hand across his 
shoulder, to a corner of the tent where lay a whole heap of shirts, 
which had been washed, indeed, but neither ironed nor even 
folded, as the Counsellor had always been accustomed to see 
done at home. He tried to make the negro understand this ; 
but Tomlins only looked wonderingly at him for a moment, and 
then went on quietly with his botching, without taking any 
further notice of him. At last, when the Counsellor took up a 
shirt, and made the motion of passing an iron to and fro over it^ 



THE gee:,iax company. 



199 



the old fellow's face \Yrmlded up into a grin of contempt, as tie 
said, — ■ 

" Never jon mind ; jnst yon put them on so/' 

Thongli the Counsellor did not niidcrstand what old Tomlins 
said, the negro's contemptnoiis air put bim in high dudgeon; 
but as Tomlins troubled himself no farther on the subject, he 
turned to the mound of garments to look out his own fine linen 
shirts from among them. But that was a thing impossible ; not 
one single shirt of his own could he find. Tomlins declined 
every attempt at conversation in German, and the Counsellor at 
last ran out in utter despair into the street, in the hope of find- 
ing an interpreter. 

Count Eeckdorf happened to be coming down the street, and 
to him he turned for assistance. 

" Certainly, Counsellor,'^ answered the young nobleman, who 
rather liked the gruff old lawyer ; "with the greatest pleasure. 
So the black fellow won't give you your things?" 

"Stupid fellow don't understand me," grumbled the Coun- 
sellor — " idiot — don't I speak German ? " 

" Perhaps that's why you don't get on," answered Count 
Beckdorf laughing. "But come in with me — we'll soon put 
the affair right." 

Tomlins never stirred on the second appearance of the Coun- 
sellor, accompanied by Count Beckdorf ; and on the inquiry of 
the latter for his friend's washing, the negro only pointed to 
the heap which contained about thirty or forty cotton shirts 
of various hues, most of them grievously tattered and tom. 

" But they're not among those ! " cried the Counsellor, pee- 
vishly. 

" Tomlins, have you no other things but those ? " asked the 
interpreter. 

Tomlins shook his head as he pointed to a still larger heap of 
soiled linen, in another corner. 

"That there," he said, "came in this last week, and will be 
washed to-morrow — this is all I have left of what came before." 

" How long is it, Counsellor, since you brought your things 
here ? " 

" Oh, tin: ee weeks ! " 

"Tomlins, this gentleman says he brought his shirts here 
three weeks ago." 

Again Tomlins pointed like inexorable fate to the ragged 
rough-dried heap ; but he condescended to say, — 

"Bless me — three weeks; that's a long time : but there are 
the shirts I washed since. Every gentlemen comes and looks 



200 THE GEEMAN COMPANY. 

out his own number---Tomlms don't bother no more about thera. 
ilow many had je ? 

"He asks how many 3-ou had, Counsellor ? " 

" Seven.'' 

''The gentleman has seven, Tomlins." 
"^'ell let him choose seven of those dar, and T^ay me a 
best^'' quarters. Whoever comes first, always gets the 

^'That's the worst of it,'^ said Count Beckdorf, laughiiio-. 
JMow, mj dear Counsellor, I can explain the whole matter to 
you. Ihe old woolly-head here looks upon the shirts he o-efs 
to wash as so many ^quarters,' and one is as good to hiin as 
another. When he's done washing, he throws them all on a 
heap together ; and so long as he gives each customer his mm- 
her, he thinks he has done all that can be required." 

" But my shirts are not there." 

"At any rate, they loere there, and some sharp fellow has 
taken them away instead of his own." 

"Don't believe it!" cried the Counsellor, angrily, "they were 
hne linen— fellow must pay for them." 

"My good sir, before what tribunal would vou summon him 
when we haven't even an alcalde among us ? If vou'll take my 
advice you'll look out the seven best among the shirts " 

" What !— -those old rags ? " 

" They're good enough to work in; and afterwards do as I do " 
" And where do you get your shirts washed ? " 
"I wash them for myself," answered the young man, lau^-hiu"- 
'^'^ You—Count Beckdorf— wash shirts ! " ^ « n- 

" Why, you see, one has to learn a e:ood many things here of 
which one has no idea in tlie old country. But it is o-rowino- 
late, my dear Counsellor, and I have still much to do— so ^^ood 
morning. Good day, Tomlins." ' ^ 

The Counsellor bowed politely— the negro nodded carelessly— 
and the Count went out, leaving the man of the law to settle his 
washing account as best he could. 

The firm of Lamberg, Binderhof, and Hufner had certainly 
tound some gold m the second hole they dug— enouo-h to covrT 
their expenses for meat and drink; but where was"" the wealth 
they had hoped, nay confidently expected, to gain? Hole after 
hole was sunk, cradle after cradle was rocked, and still the 
result was only a few dollars in each case— bare lourneymen's 
wages to the men employed. 

Hufner, in particular, became very downhearted, especiallv when 
he saw that theirs was only the common lot; the Prussians, in 



THE GEEMAN COMPANY. 201 



their fortified camp had long since abolished their sentry, wno 
subsided into a private digger, and even changed their location 
•without throwing up a fresh rampart. Einalij, as they did not 
make enough to pay their expenses, they parted company. The 
giant, with two of his men, betook himself to some other mines, 
to try his luck in a more propitious spot; and the other two 
sold their armoury of weapons to some Trenchmen, for the 
means of prosecuting their dreary employm.ent. 

After borrowing from every tent in the town — and when it 
became impossible for him to obtain so much as another glass of 
brandy on credit — the Comet had one morning disappeared from 
the neighbourhood, and was seen no more. He told his partner, 
indeed, that he was going to buy provisions on speculation — ■ 
which was true enough, for all got was on credit — but in the 
Paradise he never reappeared. A town where he was asked for 
ready money was no place for him. 

In spite of the rather discouraging result of the labours in the 
" rich mines " by the Devil's Water, new arrivals from San 
Francisco came pouring in. The very name was alluring, and 
the glowing accounts in the newspapers — though grossly ex- 
aggerated — still produced their efPect, in the shape of a harvest 
for the provision dealers. 

Even so long as three weeks after the events just described, 
waggons came rolling into the town laden with baggage and 
tents, the proprietors walking beside them. Miners who had 
grown tired of their stay, not unfrequently took advantage of 
these opportunities for returning to San Erancisco or betaking 
themselves to " fresh fields and pastures new." If they returned 
towards the coast, they usually sold their tents and mining tools, 
which could then be purchased at a very trifiing cost. 

It happened one evening, late in August, that our four Ger- 
man friends were sitting at supper, in unusually good spirits. 
The Counsellor especia% was in a most gracious humour ; he 
had that day, for the first time, given up his scheme of "moun- 
tain holes," and had actually obtained a few dollars' worth of 
gold-dust by washing in the stream. 

The three partners, too, were ''making out" pretty well, 
though Lamberg and Binderhof shirked work whenever they 
could ; and the Counsellor, excited by his good fortune, had 
invested the first proceeds of his industry in a couple of bottles 
of wine, which they were drinking in company. 

A little while before, they had noticed a caravan coming up 
the narrow road, but had paid no attention to the circumstance, 
Now they saw a man in a cap of remarkable shape and appear- 



202 



THE GEEMAIf COMPANY. 



ance, who seemed to be making inquiries for some one ; and at 
last an American, to whom he spoke, pointed to the tent where 
the Germans were assembled. 

"Hallo! "said Lamberg, suddenly jumping up; "that man 
down there looks exactly like the Assessor." 

"No, no ; he won't come to the mines," remarked Binderhof, 
laughing. " Mrs. Siebert won't give him leave." 

" You're right, Lamberg," interposed the Counsellor ; " the 
Assessor himself — hem I very glad — good fellow — glad he's 
come." 

" Hurrah ! here's a fresh specimen for the mines," cried 
Binderhof. "You and he, Counsellor, ought to join company." 

" So we will," said the Counsellor decidedly. He had long 
wished to separate from his three compauions — at least from Bin- 
derhof, and had only been withheld by his fear of having to cook 
for himself. Now the Assessor would manage all that for him, 
in return for the benefit of the Counsellor's experience as a gold- 
washer, — and the lawyer's mind was niade up.. 

The Assessor — for it was he in person — came slowly up the hill, 
and seemed to look round once or twice in doubt, till BinderhoPs 
shout of " This way. Assessor — this way ! " hastened his steps 
and brought him to the tent. 'Jlie four Germans, who welcomed 
him loudly, came flocking round him ; but his spectacles had 
become dimmed during his hurried march up the hill, and he was 
obliged to take them off and wipe them, before he could recog- 
nize his old companions. Wlien at last he did so, he was so 
pleased with his hearty welcome that the bright drops stood in 
his eyes. 

Of course he was overwhelmed with questions about himself 
and his friend Mrs. Siebert. As to his own fortunes, he was 
communicative enough, but he rather evaded those questions 
which bore reference to the woman he had so befriended; con- 
tenting himself with telling them that she was well, and earned a 
good living by washing and mending clothes. 

" And how did you come here. Assessor ? " asked Hufner ; 
" and how did you find us out ? " 

" Oh," replied the Assessor, " I had heard a great deal about 
the ^ rich digginc^s,' and the great lumps of gold you found here.'* 

" Yes," said Binderhof, laughing, " tremendous ones." 

"Why, isn't that the case? " asked the Assessor, quickly. 

" Goon with your story," said Lamberg; "you'll find out, in 
a day or two, how things really stand here. With whom did 
you come ? — for I don't think you'd ever have found your way 
alone." 



THE GEE^IAN COMPANY 



203 



" I came ^Titll some old friends and fellow-travellers of ours/' 
resumed the Assessor^ " whom I — but mercy on me, I had almost 
forgotten something. Mr. Hufner, I have a letter for you." 

"Eorme?" asked the astonished miner. "Trom San Eran- 
cisco ? " 

" Yes," said the Assessor, tugging at his great pocket-book, to 
get it ont of his breast-pocket, and searching among its various 
compartments, and the papers they contained ; " some one has 
arrived there — a young lady." 

" A young lady ! " exclaimed Hnfner, turning pale as death, 
and'springing from his seat in terror. 

" How glad he looks !" shouted Binderhof, with a great laugh; 
"now we shall have the deuce to pay; — his betrothed has 
arrived here. Yes, by all means we must have her up in the 
mines." 

" But that's quite impossible," remonstrated Hufner. 

" Here it is — thank goodness," said the Assessor, producing 
the letter. " I thought I had lost it." 

"But she was not to start till three months after me, and " 

"Pray read your letter," interposed Binderhof, who himself 
wanted to hear about it, " and then you'll have it all in black and 
white. Upon my word, the affair is growing interesting." 

Hufner broke the seal with a trembling hand, and went out of 
the tent, to read the letter in quiet, while the Assessor proceeded 
with the story of his adventures. 

" As I was telling you, I met with old travelling companions, 
Counsellor,— kind, worthy people, — the American, Mr. Hetson, 
and " 

" What ! that cracked fellow ? " asked Binderhof. 

"I beg your pardon ; he was certainly very unwell for a little 
time, but Doctor Bascher quite set him up again, and was even 
going to com.e up here with us ; but as our preparations took 
longer to complete than he expected, he started a day or two 
before us, promising that we should meet again in this little 
place." 

" What ! is the old Doctor going gold-washing ? " asked 
Lamberg, laughing. 

" I beg your pardon," replied the Assessor ; " he only intends 
to botanize, and has brought a mule to carry his collection. From 
what I have seen of these mountains and valleys, I fancy he will 
find many new and strange plants." 

"And was any one else from our ship coming ? " 

" Erom our ship — no yes, though — there were the second 
mate and the cook, who had run away together, and a few 



204 



THE GEEMAN COMPANY. 



strangers besides, — particiilarlj a Spainard, with a very beautiful 
and amiable young lady, his daughter, whom Doctor Eascher, I 
believe, had recommended as a com.panion for Mrs. Hetson. We 
were a very agreeable caravan, I must say, and I enjoyed myself 
amazingly all the way." 

"Well, Hufner, lad, how stands it? " cried Lamberg, as the 
young lover came back to them ; has she arrived safely ? " 

" For Heaven's sake, Lamberg,'^ answered Hufner, " don't joke 
about it, but give me your advice what I should do. She has 
actually come to San Erancisco." 

"Your betrothed? 

" Yes, — and her mother too." 

"By all that's blue," cried Binderhof, shouting with laughter — 
" his mother-in-law has come too. Well, my dear fellow, I do 
congratulate you with all my heart." 

" Yes, but what am I to do ? " continued the poor wretch, in 
an imploring tone. " You know, all of you, how I've worked and 
slaved, and how industrious I've been ; but the few poor dollars 
I have been able to save are certainly not enough to marry upon 
— to marry here in Calif onia ! " 

" But I thought she was not to start till three months after 
you had sailed ! " observed Lamberg. 

"That was the arrangement ; but four weeks before the time 
liad elapsed a family with whom she is intimate sailed for Val- 
paraiso or Chili, and she thought it a good opportunity. Besides, 
the ship has had an unfortunately — 1 mean a remarkably quick 
passage, and has made the voyage to San Erancisco in only 
ninety-five days." 

" liemarkably unfortunately quick," said Binderhof. 

"But tell me, for Heaven's sake, what I ought to do." 

"There is not much counsel required," cried Lamberg, bluntly. 
"The question is not what you ought to do, but what you can 
do ; and the answer is very plain. Write to your young lady, 
plainly and honestly, and tell her how things are here : that you 
have not found any gold yet, but are looking sharp after it ; so 
that you must ask her to have patience and to wait a little 
while." 

" But what is she to do in San Erancisco, in the mean time ? " 
"That is her affair, and her mother's. VVhy did they leave 
Germany a month before their time ? " 
" What are they to live on ?" 
" Can't she work in any way ?'' 
" She understands dress-making." 
Yery well, then; why need you be so over-anxious?" cried 



THE TWO GAMBLEES. 



205 



Lamberg ; she'll make lier way in San Erancisco, and perliaps 
earn a good deal more money than you can get here in t' ~ 
mines/' 

" But there are no women in San Erancisco/' 

" Oh, indeed, but there are I " said tiie Assessor ; I've se 
some myself, and a whole lot came over in the last ship." 

" There, you see ! so don't be bothered on that score. Wherev .r 
there are women there's work for dress-makers. So write 
your betrothed — or, shall I write for you ?" 

" No — by no means ; that would never do. At any rate, I mi 
write myself." 

"Then do so, and say just what I have told you; and if s 
is at all sensible, she will see that you are right. To-morr( 
morning the usual monthly post starts for San Erancisco, and y ■ 
will have a capital opportunity of sending your letter." 

" And give the young lady my respects," suggested Binderh 

" Yes — it's very well for i/otc to laugh," said poor Hufner, w 
a long face ; " but I feel at this moment just as if I was going 
have a tooth drawn." 

Lamberg and Binderhof laughed, and Hufner turned away, to 
get his writing materials. The Counsellor, who had been filling 
the Assessor's glass, took his friend aside, and held him by the 
button-hole, while the two held a long and important consultation 
together. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE TWO GJlMBLEES. 

About the time that friend Hufner was, with trembling hand, 
inditing the unsatisfactory letter to San Erancisco, and already 
experiencing, in imagination, the anguish of his Leonora, and the 
wild anger of his irritable mother-in-law elect, a lonely rider was 
guiding his tired horse down one of the steep paths that led to 
the Paradise, and stopped when he reached a spot from which he 
had a view over the whole valley. 

But it was not the beauty of the scene, bathed in the soft 
glow of the evening sunset, — not the picturesque mountain 
ridges, or the goro-eous alternation of light and shade, that 



206 



THE TWO GAOTLEHS. 



induced the traveller to pause and gaze downward. lie never 
marked one beaut}^ in the scene before him ; his hand had only 
drawn the bridle that he might count the number of the tents at 
his feet. 

A strange, wild look he had, the gloomy rider, on liis wearv, 
reeking horse, with a brow-n felt hat stuck carelessly on his 
shaggy, unkempt hair, and a thick bushy beard that almost hid 
his face, and little black cunning eyes gleamiug out from under 
his matted locks. 

Of the tigure of the man little could be seen, save that he 
wore boots with clanging Mexican spurs on the heels — for he 
was wrapped from head to foot in a Californian poncho. At 
first siglit he might have been taken for one of the Spanish 
inhabitants of the land ; but the words he muttered were of 
a diU'erent language, and, in spite of his long beard, a second 
glance would have betrayed him to be an American. 

"On my w^ord," he muttered, as he gazed fixedly down upon 
the little busy place before him, " quite a rcbpectable town, — and 
the ground seems pretty well turned up, too, — and nicely hidden 
here among the mountains ; it might be worth while to stay a 
week or two here. It's time, too, that I got to something 
like a decent place, where one can at least have a glass of 
proper brandy ; and my throat seems like a parched field or a 
furnace." 

He shook the bridle of his hungry beast as he spoke. The 
horse, which had made use of the few moments of rest to crop 
a few blades of grass the August sun had spared, did not at once 
obey the signal. With a brutal curse the rider struck it with 
his sharp s])urs, till it leaped high into the air, and then began 
galloping at full speed down the incline. 

The man did not attempt to rein it in. AVith a sardonic smile 
on his face, he pursued his headlong and often dangerous course 
through the wood, only guiding the horse with a tirm and sure 
hand as it went crashing onward. 

At last they reached the liat, covered with heaps of upturned 
earth, and full of deep holes. Here it was absolutely neces'sary 
to go at a foot-pace, to pick a w^ay through these obstacles. 
Thus the rider could only advance slowly — at least till he reached 
the road that ran through the plain; and, grinding his teeth with 
impatience, he looked to the light and left alternately, almost 
angry at finding nothing on which to vent his spleen at the 
delay. 

Here and there gold-washers w^ere working ; but he rode past 
them without greeting; and they, on their side, paid no attention 



Ojhe two gamblees. 



207 



to the rider, till, suddenly reining in his horse, he turned and 
rode back to a hole he had just passed. 

A man was sitting beside it, on a heap of loose earth, in his 
shirt-sleeves and a straw hat, smoking a cigar ; but the tools 
which lay beside him showed that he had lately been busy. When 
he saw the horseman— who^ had at first noticed him only with a 
careless glance— rein in his horse, and come riding back, he 
looked up at him in return, supposing the stranger wanted 
information respecting some dweller in the town. 

^ Well, Eoyles, how are you ? " said the rider, looking down at 
him, with his right hand on his knee. "How long have 1/021 
begun scratching up the ground ? Can't you make the cards do 
any longer ? You'll spoil your fingers here, I can tell you." 

The man made no answer, but stared up, in not very gratified 
surprise, at the stranger, who was talking of things that didn't 
concern him. 

"You've the advantage of me," he said, at length, still peering 
up into the rider's hairy face. " How do you know my name ?" 

" Come, that's not bad," replied the horseman, with a chuckle. 
" How do I know your name, my boy ! Shall I remind you of 
the night in the swamp on the Mississippi ?" 

"Siftly, as I live!" cried the gold- washer, jumping briskly 
up, and shaking the rider's profi'ered hand. "lYhere do i/ou 
come from ? — glad to see you well." 

" Thank you, Boyles," said the gambler, nodding. " I've 
been about a little through the country, and I w^anted to see 
hov^^ things look here wdtli you. Eut, seriously, have you given 
up the cards, that you're here spoiling your fingers with the 
pickaxe ? Digging and picking is hard work, and scarcely 
the kind of thing for one of us." 

" I'm hanged if I do it willingly," grumbled the miner ; 
" but that d — d rascal Smith cleaned me out so thoroughly a 
week ago, that I haven't a cent, in my pocket. But wait a bit, 
Siftly, my boy ; tliis isn't a bad place, and I'm up to your 
tricks now. The next time " 

"What Smith are you spenking of?" interrupted Siftly, in a 
careless tone. "Do I know^ him ?" 

"Know him !" repeated Bojles ; "'just fancy you do. Why, 
you and he used to work together in San Francisco." 

" And so he's here ?" cried Siftly, with gleaming eyes ; and he 
jumped from his horse, and went up to the man. "Deuce take 
me, Boyles, that's a first-rate piece of news, and worth a reward. 
If I can help you out with an ounce or tvfo, tell me honestly. 
When you have it to spare, you can pay me back." 



208 



THE TWO GAMBLEES. 



" Is it a bargain?" asked tlie other, holding out his hand. 
A bargain!" rejDeated Siftly, shaking it heartily. 

" That's a help ill time of need/' cried Eoyles, "and it shall 
bear you good interest. If I can do anything in retnrn for you, 
Siftly, Tm your man. But— why the deuce — your hand's 
bloody." 

" Those cursed brambles !" said Siftly. " I've nearly scratched 
myself to pieces with them : I missed my road from Antonio's 
here, and had to come all the way through the wood." 

" That's a bad way ; I know it well," answered Boyles. " Well, 
I should have asked you to help me against Smith, but as he's an 
old friend " 

" Where can I find him ?" asked Siftly, without noticing the 
indirect proposal. 

"Ask for Kenton's tent; he's to be found there every even- 
ing." 

"Thank you; and novf about the gold. IIow much do you 
want ?" 

"Want ?--¥/hy, my good Siftly, that's a curious question, — 
and you know that in playing, the more one has to begin with 
the better. But can you help me out with four ounces without 
feehug the want of them yourself ?" 

" I dare say I can. You won't want very long to pay them 
back ?" 

" I hope not." 

"Then good-bye. Come this evening to— what's his name— 
Kenton's tent; there I'll weigh it ofP for you, and shall, periiaps, 
have some news to tell into the bargaiM." 

He sprung to his saddle, nodded to Boyles, and rode off 
towards the road leading to the " Devil's Water." Here he 
ahghted once more, and let his horse feed on the patches of 
herbage, while he took a bag from his saddle, washed himself, 
and made a kind of toilet as well as the place would allow, even 
combing his hair and beard. Then he rode on slowly through 
the town, neither stopping at any of the tents, nor inquiring of 
any one, till he came to the place where the flag of the United 
states was waving from the top of a bare pine-trunk. Here he 
knew by experience that he should find the chief person in 
authority. ^ 

Evening had closed in. The North-American twilight is very 
short, and when once the sun disappears below the horizon, night 
comes on with great rapidity. All out-door work had also long 
ago been given up ; the people had eaten their supper, and the 
nKijority were still strolling about among the tents, either to 



THE T"WO GAMBLSES. 



209 



enjoy tlie fresli evening, or on their way to pass away the honrs 
ti]i midnight, drinking and playing in some canvass hostelry. A 
few were already going to rest, that they might rise at daylight 
next morning to resume their work. ^ 

There was a great difference in the internal arrangements of 
the various tents. Gambling was only carried on in those kept 
by Americans, the foreigners generally having united to scout 
the practice. The Mexicans usually kept themselves apart from 
the rest of the whites, remaining in their own quarters, which 
they had established at a little distance from the town. They 
were not partial to alcoholic liquors, and only an exceptional few 
haunted the playing-hells, where they played at Monte, their 
favourite game, against the Americans. 

The other dusky strangers in the flat — namely, Indians, 
Chinese, Negroes, and a few Sandwich Islanders — never showed 
their face among the tents after dark. 

One of the chief resorts for gambling, the same into which we 
followed the Counsellor a few evenings ago, was Kenton's tent, 
where Mr. Smith had established himself with a partner named 
Kuly. Three or four other tables were also kept goings one by 
a couple of Mexicans, the rest by Americans, who, while they 
lured on the gold-washers by offering them a chance of doubling 
their fortunes, really managed to ease them of the sums they 
had scraped together, grain by grain, with many hours' hard 
and uninterrupted labour. But, as the keepers of the tables 
pithily observed, " it was all voluntary, no one ashed them to 
play."* 

Mr. Smith had, however, not played with any great success, 
at least not with that distinguished result to which he con- 
sidered himself entitled by his brilliant talents in his voca- 
tion. Still, he knew how to secure himself against losses, 
and devoted many a spare hour to the process of initiating his 
partner into the freemasonry of their profession ; for one of their 
best chances of success lay in the achievement of a perfect 
understanding between the two practitioners. 

* It is hardly an exaggeration to assert that, in all these games, besides the 
great advantages sec\ired by the rules to the bank, deceptive arts are prac- 
tised. All these professional players are provided with false packs of cards : 
and there are large factories in the United States whose chief profits are 
derived from their production. By the uninitiated they cannot be distin- 
guished from ordinary pla^-ing- cards; but on the backs, among the blue or 
red dots, apparently scattered over them at random, are certain signs and 
arabesques, arranged in such a manner that a practised eye can tell the suit 
to which the card belongs, as surely as if the face had been displayed. Even 
the value of each particular card can be thus discerned, so that the quick and 
practised hand of the player can at any moment remove a dangerous card from 
one part of the pack to another. 

P 



THE TWO GAtoLEES. 

On this evening lie was sitting alone at his table. It was still 
early and the chief business of the evening did not commence 
until after ten o'clock. The earlier arrivals usually staked small 
sums and were consequently less profitable. Still Mr. Smith 
cast several impatient glances towards the entrance of the tent, 
and his face— never very friendly in expression—looked more 
sour and discontented than ever. A good many strangers had 
arrived that day from San Erancisco ; and the chief topic of 
conversation in the tent was a fire that bad occurred a short 
time before. This new calamity had fallen upon exactly the 
quarter of the town so frequently visited by similar misfortunes, 
and tlie prevailing opinion was that, like the first fire, it was 
the work of an incendiary. 

At last Euly came into the tent ; and instead of taking his 
seat as usual, opposite his worthy confederate, he dropped into a 
vacant chair beside him. 

Well, and where have you been skulking the whole of this 
blessed evening ? " was the polite question with which Mr. Smith 
welcom.ed his partner. " Hanged if I haven't been sitting here 
for " 

" Hush ! whispered Euly, without noticing the rebuke ; 
" I want to speak to you about something that concerns your- 
self." 

"And what's that, pray?" asked the long gamester, with a 
our look. 

" Did you ever have any difficulty with a man of the name of 
Siftly?" 

" Siftly 1 " exclaimed Smith hastily, and with much more 
interest than he wished to betray. " What do you know about 
him?" 

"He's here!" 

"Here ? — In this place ? " cried Smith with a nervous glance, 
and half starting from his chair in his trepidation. 

" You can't get away unobserved," whispered Ruly quickly 
and anxiously, — " I saw him and the sheriff in front of the tent." 

"The sheriff?" muttered Smith between his set teeth, while 
his face turned from pale to yellow. 

"He— I mean Siftly," continued Euly, "must have arrived 
this evening. He stopped his horse before the sheriff's tent, 
and went in, and the name of Smith passed betv/een them 
several times." 

" Lnd how came you to know of that ? " 

" My tent is close to Hale's, and through the thin canvass 
one can hear almost every word ; so I remained in the dark, 



THE TViO GAMBLEES. 



SU 



and kept quite quiet on my mattress; but still I couldn't well 
make out what it was all about." 

"Thank ye/' said Smith, who had by this time quite regained 
his composure, and began to shuffle the cards with an°air of 
indifference. ^ " It 's nothing — they must have meant some other 
Smith. If it is that Siftly, by the way, whom I knew in San 
Trancisco, I shall be glad enough to meet him again here. He's 
a determined sort of fellow, and we want people of that kind in 
our profession to stand up against the rascally strangers. It's 
liigh time we gave them a bit of our minds." 

"So, you're all right 

"Yes, yes. Just sit down in your place." 

Huly, who had noticed Smith's disturbed air, and his look of 
discomfiture on the mention of Siftly's name, could not now 
reconcile his partner's apparent calmness with his former appre- 
hensions. Nevertheless he did as he was desired, and took up 
bis usual position in waiting, or rather in wait, for casual cus- 
tomers. 

Smith, on the contrary, though he was mechanically passing 
the cards through his fingers, was thinking of something far 
more important than even the business of his life. His eye still 
wandered restlessly towards the entrance of the tent, where he 
momentarily expected his antagonist to appear. 

The curtain was suddenly pushed aside, and Siftly's bearded 
face appeared looking in. Though Smith felt himself turning 
ghastly white, he maintained an appearance of perfect com- 
posure. His plan was already laid; and striking suddenly into 
the conversation, he said in a loud voice, — 

"A fire like that in that canvass place is an uncomfortable kind 
of thing ; but it's an ill wind that blows nobody good." 

" What ! " shouted another American, with a savage look ; 
" to whom can a fire like that bring profit, but to the vagabonds 
who want to plunder and steal ? " 

"Oho !" cried a third. " Isn't there profitable work for hun- 
dreds afterwards ? " 

" All that I have, for instance," continued Smith, without 
particularly noticing the observation, " has become mine through 
the fire before last, which I know positively was lighted up on 
purpose. I even knov/ who did it." 

" You know who did it ?" exclaimed a dozen voices, while all 
turned towards him. "You knew him, and you didn't give him 
up to the constables, or to the people, who would have thrown 
him into the middle of the fire ! " 

" How are you to give a man up," answered Smith, with hia 
p 2 



212 



THE TWO GAMBLESS. 



hoarse cliuckle, "when he has an hour's start in the mountains ?" 
(He knew that Siftlj himself was standing behind his chair, while 
the sheriff had taken up a position beside him.) "Unless he 
happens to come across me again, he's safe enough ; for no one 
has any proofs against him but myself ; and the proof is that I 
have his gold, which he left behind him in his flight." 

" You should have given that up," said a bystander, " to those 
■who came to grief through the fire." 

"I should have been a fool for my pains!" retorted Smith. 
" No, no ; I'd a long account against my gentleman, and until 
that's settled I shall consider the gold as my own property, and 
Tve a right to it." 

The sheriff threw an inquiring glance over his shoulder at the 
bearded man behind him ; but the latter replied by an almost 
imperceptible shake of the head, and beckoned Hale to follow 
him out of the tent. 

"But what was the name of the rascally incendiary?" asked 
a long Kentuckian ; "at any rate, his name ought to be made 
publicly known, so that any one who met the fellow might shoot 
him down, or hang him up on the nearest tree." 

"Name!" answered Smith, who had observed the sheriff's 
implied question and Siftly's answer, and now looked at both with 
a meaning grin — "what's the use oF a name ? If you tell me that 
your name's Brandon, of course I believe it." 
^ " Well, and so it is," cried the young fellow, reddening to the 
tips of his ears at the gamester's doubtful speech. 

"Well, and I don't question it," replied Smith drily, while 
several of the others laughed. "But you might say your name 
was Jones, Brown, or Phillips, without our being any the 
wiser." 

"You're quite sure your name's Smith?" retorted the Ken- 
tucky man, who began to grow angry under his opponent's 
sarcasm. 

"That's what I call myself," answered the imperturbable 
Smith, shuffling the cards with his long dexterous fingers. "But 
now, gentlemen, I hope some of you will do me the pleasure to 
begm fetchmg away the gold you're going to win of me this 
evenmg. It must be past eight o'clock, and the nights are short 
enough." 

Two or three persons accepted the invitation, and in a few 
mmutes everything else was forgotten in the absorbing interest 
01 the fatal cards. 

Siftly, who had so suddenly changed his plan of action, was 
meantime going slowly up the street, followed by the sheriff, 



THE TWO GAMBLEES. 



213 



who presently stepped up to him, and strolled on by Ms 
side. 

" Well?" he asked — and tried to distinguish in the moonlight 
the expression of his companion's face, which was, however, 
completely hidden by his hat and his great beard — "the de- 
scription I gave yon tallied to a hair, and now all at once 
yon've pnlled in yonr horns. Wasn't that the Smith you 
spoke of F " 

"No," answered Siftly. "I'm sorry to have troubled you 
for nothing, and wish I had looked at the man first. But you 
must accept something for your pains ; and if you " 

" Thank ye," interrupted Hale, putting aside the stranger's 
outstretched hand ; "it's my duty to help honest men, and to 
find out rascals wherever I can. I've my fixed pay for what I 
do. D'ye know thh Smith ?" 

Siftly hesitated for a mxoment, and then rephed,— 

" Wiiy, yes ; I knew him in the States : and in Scan Prancisco 
I met him ; but only once." 

"Do you consider him an honest man ?" 

" One can't look into a man's heart to see what it's made of," 
said Siftly ; " and here in California I wouldn't answer for my own 
brother." 

" Your name is " 

" Siftly." 

" Then good night, Mr. Siftly," said the sheriif, as he turned 
to walk back to his own tent. " If after looking more closely at 
this man, you should see cause to alter your opinion of him, why, 
I shall be very much at your service." 

" Good night, sir," answered he of the beard, somewhat taken 
aback by the sheriff's manner. 

Eor a moment he stood looking after Hale ; then with a con- 
temptuous shrug he turned towards the nearest drinking-tent to 
refresh his inner man with supper and wine. ^ 

It was past eleven when he re-entered Kenton's tent. This 
time he came alone. Without stopping to exchange a word with 
any one, or even ansv/ering the anxious look his former partner 
cast unon him, he went with Boyles, who had long been waitmg 
for him, to the bar, and then returning, took a seat at Smith's 
table. There he began staking small sums, sometimes on one 
card, sometimes on another, without appearing to devote muck 
attention to the progress of the game. . , x xi • 

It grew late. Most of the gold-washers had retired to their 
tents, and only a few remained scattered about at the different 
tables, attempting in vain to win back the gold they had spent 



214 



THE TWO GAMBLEES. 



the whole evening in losing. At last even the most persevering 
gave up in despair, and while Siftly still continued staking small 
sums, the last of them left the tent. Then at length the gamester 
himself rose from his seat. 

Smith, in the mean time, with a leer and a grin at his old 
acquaintance, began to pack up his gold, — he had sent Ruly away 
to bed an hour before,' — and also left the tent, though he could 
plainly see the dark figure of Siftly, who stood waiting for him 
with folded arms, near the entrance. He looked round appre- 
hensively : the host was in the tent, searching the floor with a 
candle, on the chance of a gold coin having fallen from any of the 
tables, which would of course be his perquisite. The street 
itself was deserted; but here and there a light still glimmered in 
a tent, and, re-assured by the sight. Smith went quietly up to his 
expectant comrade, held out his hand, and accosted him with — 

" Good evening, Siftly." 

His partner turned round slowly, and stared him full in the 
face, without returning his greeting or taking his proffered hand. 
After a pause, he answered in a thick, suppressed voice, — 

" Come up street with me, to where the tents end. I don't 
want any listeners to what we've to say to each other." 
I — I've gold with me ! " said Smith, hesitating. 

" We two are strong enough to defend it, if any one should try 
to take it from us," replied Siftly, with a sneer; " and besides, 
half of it belongs to me." 

Por a minute the long gambler's eyebrows were contracted into 
a threatening frown, but it was oiily for a moment ; then he 
observed, with a quiet laugh, — 

" You seem to settle our affairs in a twinkling — short and 
sharp. Well, I don't care ; better that v/ay than getting the 
sherilf to poke his nose into the business. If you'd had your 
wits about you,you'd have done it in that way from the beginning." 

" Come on," answered the bearded one, and turned slowly 
away, without, however, losing sight of his partner for a moment ; 
but the precaution was unnecessary, for Smith had given up the 
notion of escaping. The two men strode silently on for some dis- 
tance ; then, at a break in the line of tents, they turned off into 
the red flat, and for about a hundred paces followed a foot- 
path which led through it. M last, when they came to where 
the ground was all broken up into holes, Siftly stopped, threw 
back his poncho, and sat down upon one of the heaps of earth, 
while Smith put down his heavy bag of gold and dollars on 
the ground, and remained standing by it. 

They had not exchanged a word on the road; and as Siftly still 



THE GA?tIBLEES. 



215 



kept silence, his companion was oMiged to take the initiative iu 
the conversation. 

" You'll hardly believe me/' he began, " when I say that I'm 
very glad to see you." 

"'No, I shall not," answered the other, drily. 

" I thought so," contiAied the long gamester, with a bene- 
volent smile ; " and yet it's a fact." 

" Then it's a pity you took such pains to get out of my wa}^ 
when you went off in such a hurry." 

" That was a stupid business from beginning to end," answered 
the worthy Mr. Smith ; " for either I should have had to cut 
California entirely, or I might have known that I should meet 
you somewhere or other. The opportunity, though, was too 
tempting — and, hang it, somehow or other I could never miss an 
opportunity." 

" And yet you wanted to betray me to the sheriff to-day, and 
to give me up as an incendiary." 

" Most ^^^cidediy — rather than be taken up myself and hauled 
before one of their blessed juries. What have we two to do 
with their judges and sheriffs, that we must go stirring them up 
against us ? " 

" And may 1 ask the reason of your — your joy at seeing me 
here ? " 

Because my present partner's a blockhead a man can't 
do anything with; whereas two fellows like you and I might 
make a really good thing of it here together." 

" And do you really suppose, after what has passed between 
us, that I should be fool enough to be your partner again ? " 

Decidedly : at least I don't know that you could do any- 
thing better. You know very well that you'd have done just the 
same, if you'd been me. Oust remember how we two did old 
Erown — and so I don't think you've much to complain of. I 
can make up the loss you might have had, and so we can settle 
the affair without much trouble." 

Siftly stood for a short time in a brown study, looking straight 
before him ; and Smith was wary enough not to interrupt his 
cogitations. 

" Why did you not cut California? " he at last inquired. 

" Because 1 fancy I can m.ake a good deal more out of it," 
answered Mr. Smith with a chuckle. 'Tt's a capital country, is 
California, and a fellow must be a fool if he can't make it 

" D'ye know that Brown has been shot ? " 
What, our good, fat old Brown ? NoL a Avord of it." 



216 



THE T^.YO GAMBLEES. 



"It's true, though. A Erencbman caught him cheating at 
cards, and sent a bullet through his body." 

" You don't say so ! answered Mr. t^mith, quite undisturbed 
pi this little piece of intelligence. "Well, at any rate, the 
I'renchman couldn't v/ell miss him ; besides, he was always a 
clumsy fellow, and likely to be found#Dut. So lar as w^e're con- 




lawyer 

"Who ?— Hetson?' 
"I think that's his name — he arrived to-day with his wife; 
and who do you think is with them ? " 

"How do I knoY/, and what do I care?— 'the man doesn't 

concern me." 

" Manuela, mth her father." 

" The Spanish girl— why, what the deuce— whatever can they 
want up here in the mines ? " 

"Not to play the fiddle, at any rate," observed Smith ; 'Mbr 
I sent up to ask the old man on' the sly. It seems she's come 
as a sort of companion to Hetson's wife. Can anythinn- be done 
with Hetson ? " ^ 

"He's a weak fellow, so far as I know him. But what do 
you want to make of him ? " 

^ We must have an American for our alcalde here," said Mr. 
omith tlioughtfully; " one who'll take our part against the con- 
tounded foreigners, who're getting very impudent, and talk of 
turnmg us out of the place—and some of the Americans hold 
■with them, if such a thing's once done, we shall have hard 
work to keep our heads up; and as it is, people are ffettino- 
plaguy cautious." & o 

c! y ^""'^ ^^"^ even intends to stay here." 

iiis goods have been unloaded, and the waggon 's gone back. 
Perhaps if he sees a chance of being made alcalde, that'll be 
enougfi to keep him from bolting " 

" Perhaps so," said Siftly. " At any rate, he'd be our man ; 

ctrtl^ ^'^^ ^^^^ be'll do anything." 

lhat s all right-well then, just think it over. There are a 
good many of your old friends here, and as they're all anxious 
so twt^^^ some kmd or other, you'll be able to work it, 
tL plLt'^ votes-that's to say, if he'll take 

^^'11 see that he does that," said Siftly. 

ro-.c. vf' ? f now good iiight, Siftly^you won't 

rciuse me, your hand, old boy ? " b ^ j juuvyuxit 



THE T¥/0 GAMBLEES. 



217 



" Not when we have settled our accounts." 
" What !— Here in the dark ? " 

*'That would be uncomfortable. Eut I suppose you have a 
tent, and a light in it. Bj the way, 1 haven't any lodging yet 
for myself." 

" You don't trust me ? 

" Not an inch, beyond my sight, and I fancy you've given me 
reason." 

Smith gave his peculiar chuckle, and, after a moment's silence, 

resumed : /. n • i 

"Well, be it so— I don't care. Perhaps, after all, it s best 
that we should clear off all old scores, and have it all up and down 
between us. Then our own interests will bind us closer together 
than anything else." 

" You're right ; that's the tightest knot we can tie. Show 
me that my interest jumps with yours, and you won't have a 
more faithful friend than I can be." ^ 

"But," observed Smith ruefully, "I've earnea a good deal 
more by myself, since I left San Prancisco. There was less m 
the box than we thought." 

" That's no matter ; whatever you've earned, you ve made with 
my money ; which I got with danger and trouble enough, in all 
conscience. You'll have to give me half, or to take the con- 
sequences." . 

"And suppose I wont?'' asked Smith, vfith a momentary 
iSash of rebellion. 

"Yes, ^ov.P:ill, Smith, my boy; for you biow you can t help 
yourself," retorted Siftly, with a grin. 

"Come along, then," grumbled Smith, with a sort oi crusiy 
resignation; "you can sleep in my tent to-night, and to-morrow 
we'll settle all that." 

"But we'll divide the money io-nlght:' 

"Well, I don't care, if you're so particular set on it; but it 
would be more convenient "to-morrow by daylight." 

" One don't mind putting up with a little inconvenience now 
and then ; so lead the way—you know the ms and outs ot the 
place better than I do." So saying, Siftly rose ; and the worthy 
partners returned towards the town in company, Smitli grasping 
the heavy bag which formed the bond of union between their 
conc^enial souls. 



318 



THE counsellor's DISCOVEEY. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

THE counsellor's DISCOVERY. 

On the evening of his sudden departure from his official 
residence, Major E.yot had left the tolerably capacious tent 
wherein he was accustomed to dispense his even-handed justice 
to the mercy of any one who chose to take possession thereof. 
The American Kenton, who had for several months supplied the 
alcalde with v/ines and spirits without having been paid for his 
wares, seized upon the tent, after its owner's departure, as a 
security for the debt. No one else seemed to have a claim upon 
the canvass habitation ; so Kenton kept it, and let it out to a 
party of Erenchmen who bad just arrived. 

News of certain productive mines at a little distance had 
caused the lodgers to take their departure ; and for a week the 
tent had been empty, till a new tenant, or rather purchaser, 
unexpectedly appeared. 

Smith had been quite correct when he reported to his dear 
friend Siftly the arrival of Hetson and his company in the mines ; 
and ^ as soon as the young American heard that a tent was "to 
let," he went to Kenton, and soon concluded a bargain. He 
had come provided with sailcloth, in the belief that he should 
not liiid a habitation ready for him. Partition walls were soon 
raised m the mterior of the tent, to fit it, at least temporarily, 

or their accommodation. Chairs and tables had been left there 
by the Major, who had no time to remove his furniture; so an 
• hour alter sunset Iletson was established in his new home,— a 
more comfortable home, moreover, than many of those dwellers 
among the mountains could boast. 

llelson himself who had engaged two seamen to do the 
necessary work helped vigorously to complete the arrangements, 
and was seen labournig here, there, and everywhere. But there 
was a feeling of disquiet about everything he did. He looked 

Ike a man who endeavours, by forcing himself to severe and pro- 
tracted exertion, to lose the remembrance of something that 
presses upon his mmd ; and only while he was thus vigorously at 



THE COTJNSELLOE's DISCOVERY. 



219 



work did the eyes of the poor phantom-ridden man lose their list- 
less expression, or his face its ashy paleness. 

He had been ill— very ill. Death had knocked loudly and 
repeatedly at the door of the weak habitation wherein his soul 
still lingered— but he had knocked in vain. Jenny's tender care, 
and the disinterested friendship of the worthy old doctor, drove 
out the fever from the burning pulse, and raised the emaciated 
body from its couch of pain. With returning strength, the rest- 
less fancies that distracted poor Hetson's brain began to grow 
weaker ; but the expression of anxious distrust, so dilferent from 
his former frank hearing, had never entirely left him, and his 
poor wife lived in agonized fear of a relapse. 

Therefore, it was with unfeigned gladness that she received 
Doctor Rascher's promise not to leave them entirely to them- 
selves, but to visit them among the mountains in a little time, 
and to see how they got on " up there in the mines." Devoted 
as he was to botanical studies, ail places in the strange land were 
alike to him, so long as he had the prospect of finding new and 
curious specimens. He had also done Mrs. Hetson a good turn, 
by procuring her the company of the Spanish girl, Manuelita. 
In a country where there was not one woman to be found to 
every hundred men, the position of the poor young wife up in 
the mountains would have been very desolate ; but through the 
good offices of his friend Emile, the old doctor had become 
acquainted with Manuelita, whose language Mrs. Hetson could 
speak fluently. The unfortunate condition to which the father 
had reduced his unhappy child, through his ill-starred passion 
for gambling, and the loathing she felt on entering the gaming- 
hells, to which the Spauiard'sweakness had kept him bound bydebt 
after debt, had made Manuelita accept with tears of thankful- 
ness the first offer made to her on the subject. Hetson, whose 
private means were considerable, released them from tlicir 
liabilities, and even allowed the father to accompany his child. 

Poor Don Alonzo had fallen off terribly ; and even his costume 
showed plainly how badly the capricious goddess Portunc had 
treated her votary. The valuable ring we once heard him refuse 
to stake, no longer sparkled on his finger. Instead of the costly 
gold-embroidered Mexican cloak, in which of yore he used to 
wrap himself, he now wore an old Califoruian poncho, wliicli liid 
a multitude of shortcomings in the rest of his costume. His hat 
was sadly bent, and his shoes were in a most distressed condilion, 
—and, worse than all, the sunken cheeks and restless, hungry 
eyes of the man, evidenced too clearly how the fierce passion was 
gnawing and tearing bis heart like a vulture. He had become 



220 



THE COUNSELLOE's DISCOTERY. 



more silent and self-contained than he used to be; the thought 
that he could play, no longer was gnawing away his life. 

Eor all except' this poor inveterate g-imbler, tlie journey into 
the mountains seemed to have been productive of great and real 
good. Even Hetson had become more lively and open-hearted, 
and the mountain air, the beauteous aspect of nature around 
him, and even the increased activity forced upon him by his new 
circumstances of life, seemed to fill him with fresh vigour, and to 
cause him almost entirely to forget those dark suspicions which 
had nearly been fatal to him in San Erancisco. 

Not that those phantoms had entirely left him ; — but here he 
felt more secure; shutting out the world and its communication, 
the wooded mountains ensircling this valley seemed to him a wall 
raised by a kind fate to shut out his troubles from pursuing him. 

His first intention had been to quit California at once, and to 
take an opportunity of proceeding to the Sandwich Islands. 
But he thought to elude his rival still more surely by quitting 
San Erancisco and living for a time among the mountains, where 
no control was exercised over arrivals or departures ; where each 
one came and went as he chose, and where no man cared what 
his neighbour did or left undone, so long as he interfered with 
no claim, and hindered none in the search for gold. 

So he resolved to set out and dig. Doctor Rascher had 
particularly recommended him to do so; for in the new and 
unaccustomed industry which could hardly fail to excite the 
workman's interest, and in the hard bodily labour which would 
make him relish his meals, the old physician placed his chief 
rebance for the ultimate cure of the brain-sick invalid. 

With the first dawn of morning the usual industry began in 
and around the little town. The gold-washers had generally 
withdrawn from the flat, and begun to work beside the little 
streams that poured into it from the hills ; for here the work was 
less severe and proportionately more remunerative. Coarse 
grains ot gold were to be found in the bed of every stream. 
Largo lumps were seldom or never found; but the smaller gold, 
at any rate paid the workmen's expenses, and they had not to 
dig so deeply to get at it. 

The Counsellor had taken possession of one of these spots ; 
and as he had really found gold there, he began to take quite an 
interest in the pursuit. According to solemn covenant rnade the 
evening before with the Assessor, he had determined not only to 
rji"'. "''•^^""^ his new-found friend, but to take up his 
les.dcnce in one ten with him. The Assessor had brought 
cooking utensils with him from Germany; the Counsellor 



THE COUNSELLOU'S DISCOVEBY. 



221 



bouglit a little tent from a party of Trenclimen who were return- 
ing to San Francisco ; and by noon the arrangements were so far 
advanced that the two chums could go to work together directly 
after dinner. 

The Counsellor had at first intended to pitch his tent next to 
the abode of his three former comrades; but a proposition, made 
of course by Binderhof, that they should hold a solemn festival 
to ratify the treaty between the two great powers, nettled him so 
much, that he sought safety in flight from all further attacks. 
He put up his tent about five hundred paces from his old abode, 
at the foot of a hill of moderate height, with bushes growing here 
and there. A clear brook bubbling from a rock at a little dis- 
tance secured them a supply of water, — wood was more easily 
procured here than nearer to the town; and the two partners 
complacently promised each other not only much pleasure, but 
also good substantial gain, from their own establishment. 

The Assessor in particular was in high glee at the thought of 
commencing his new occupation, and thanked the Counsellor for 
his kindness in admitting him into partnership with a warmth 
which induced that astute reasoner to allow him relief for his 
feelings by undertaking all the work, while he himself stood with 
his long pipe looking quietly on, and giving occasional directions. 
When they at last went out in the afternoon to begin their wash- 
ing operations, the Assessor, still moved by gratitude, confided 
to his friend and patron, under the seal of profound secrecy, the 
reason why he had at length been compelled to leave Mrs. Sie- 
bert and her children, and to betake himself to the mines. He 
told the storj in a sort of apologetic strain, as if he had done 
wrong in leaving the poor woman and her children to their own 
devices, — 

"But it wouldn't do. Counsellor; it really would not do any 
longer, I assure you," he concluded. "I did everything that 
was in my power, but that I really could not do." 

"What ! — how d'ye mean ? " asked the abrupt Counsellor, 
"mat couldn't ye do?" 

" Why, marry her," the Assessor blurted out, with a frightened 
look all round him, as if he feared that Mrs. Siebert would hear 
him all the way from San Erancisco. 

Till that moment nobody had seen the Counsellor laugh. The 
quiet gravity enthroned on his expressive features seldom gave 
way to the influence of merriment; at most, when anything 
struck him as particularly comic, he would contract his face as if 
he had inadvertently stuck his teeth into a lemon, and cough m 
a dry, humorous manner. But now he stood still and laughed. 



222 



THE COUNSELLOR S DISCOVERY, 



— laughed a real liuman hearty chest-laugh, — laughed till the 
smoke of his pipe caught him in the tlu-oat, and his burst of ca- 
chinnation finished with an undeniable choking-fit. At last he 
resumed his gravity, and said, — 

"So you were to have married Mrs. Siebert, Assessor." 

"I beg your pardon, my dear sir," answered the nervous man, 
with a blush ; " she wanted to — to marry me. She told me point- 
blank one morning that the children had grown so used to me, 
and so had she herself, — that the people had already begun to talk 
about it — which was true enough, by the way, for Mr. Ohlers 
"would never let me have a minute's peace with his jokes and non- 
sense, — and she said she thought it would be better to silence all 
malicious reports by a wedding." 

" Whereupon you ran away ? " 

"I tried at first to represent to her my age and the insufiiciency 
of my means ; but it was of no use. She was earning a very good 
income, and declared that she would soon work me into some- 
thing, — in a word, she was determined to marry me." 

The Counsellor was listening with the greatest interest. 

" And what happened then ? " he eagerly inquired. 

"When I found that all my protestations were in vain, — for 
I could not, at my age, make up my mind to marry, — and Mrs. 
Siebert — she is a very good woman, but still " 

"Well, when your protestations were in vain?" 

" Why, I packed up my things one evening " 

" Oh, Mrs. Siebert had* gone out ? " 

"Why yes, she had gone over to Mrs. Hetson's." 

"And you ran away ?" cried the Counsellor, his face radiant 
with mischievous glee. 

" I — really beg you will not make any use of what I have 
told you," remonstrated the Assessor, anxiously. 

"What ! — and go and marry the widow myself ! " answered the 
Counsellor, in a strange access of humour; "not I, Assessor; 
but t\onfound it — pipe gone out — lost my tinder-box — strike a 
light. Assessor !" 

His goodnatured friend, though himself no smoker, always 
carried fuzees with him, for the benefit of those who might 
require them. The pipe was soon rekindled, and the two men 
went on their way without further alluding to the Assessor's 
startling communication. 

The place where the Counsellor had pursued his solitary 
labours was distant about a mile from the town, beside a little 
mountain stream. On reaching their destination, the Counsellor 
pointed out to his companion, with considerable pride, the spot 



THE counsellor's DISCOVEEY. 



223 



where he had made his first and only discovery of Californian 
gold, and further marked out a space within which to pursue 
their task. 

He left his friend the junior partner to commence operations, 
the Counsellor himself being bent on climbing the mountain on 
which he had dug his last "hi^h" hole. He fancied he had 
there forgotten his indispensable tinder-box ; and, as the place lay 
at some distance from the road, he hoped it might still have 
escaped the appropriation of passers-by ; at any rate, the attempt 
was an excuse for shirking work for a couple of hours ; so, while 
the Assessor pounded away with all the zeal of a novice at gold- 
digging, our stolid old friend went loitering up the incline 
towards the scene of his late unsuccessful operations, blowing 
[ the smoke from him in clouds as he walked on. 

The Counsellor was not a man to hurry himself; and thus it 
came to pass that three quarters of an hour had elapsed before 
he reached the little pine-copse which he had remembered as a 
landmark of his abortive efforts. Traces of his former industry 
soon showed themselves ; but suddenly the Counsellor stood 
gazing in wonder at a remarkable change which had been effected 
since he left the spot. 

The hole, four feet in depth, and about the same in length, 
which he had dug in the confident expectation of finding a hat- 
ful of gold, and left in the disagreeable certainty of not having 
discovered any, had been filled up by some one or other. Had 
some later arrival worked out the hole after he abandoned it, and 
then thrown in the earth, to make sure of the place for some 
later day ? Was there perhaps gold in the hole, after all ? 

"Hm — a vexatious affair!" muttered the Counsellor, as ho 
stood ruminating beside what had been his hole — ought never 
to leave a place till it's well dug out;" and he blew a thick 
cloud from his pipe, wrathfully — " if I'd only brought my 
spade." 

But in spite of all his ruminations, he could come to no 
definite conclusion on the matter, till the reason of his expedi- 
tion suddenly recurred to his mind. He had come for his 
fire-box. 

Looking round, he soon recognized the place where he had sat 
the last time he worked there, to eat the breakfast he had brouo-lit 
with him. A little round bank of moss had been there, admira- 
bly calculated for a short siesta, in the shade of a wild colfee- 
tree ; and he had made good use of this natural couch, to the 
great refreshment of his weary limbs. The place was there 
still— at least the coffee-tree ; but the mossy bank was all 



THE COUKSELLOE's DISCOVEEY. 



trodden and stamped to pieces ; he did not like to sit down on 
it again. 

Wlioever the visitors had been, they had not found his match- 
box, for there it lay, close by the root of the bush, where he had 
laid it down, to have it ready to his hand. 

That's right ! " observed the Counsellor with a complacent 
nod, as he thrust the little treasure of plated silver back into 
his pocket — " would have been uncomfortable in the woods 
without fire — can't do without smoking." 

The bowl of his pipe had become loose, and he pressed it back 
against the stem, in doing so he felt something moist in his 
fingers, and looking at the white pipe-bowl was surprised to see 
on it a red stain of blood. 

" Very agreeable ! " he grumbled, contemplating his fingers, 
which were red, and scraping ofp the blood against the rough 
bark of a tree — " must have torn my fingers — confounded thorns 
— stupid place, California — much better have stayed at home." 

The Counsellor had achieved his object, and turned to descend 
the hill ; but he had to pass the hole he had dug with so much 
trouble, and which was now so completely filled up ; and he felt 
particularly angry at not being able to conjecture whether his 
successor had found anything to reward his exertions or not. 

" Confounded Americans ! " he muttered, as he kicked aside 
a few clods of earth with his foot; '^go picking about every- 
where, where they've no business— rascals — good mind to fetch 
my spade — cursed high hill to climb, though, tvdce in one day — 
nonsense !" 

As he continued to kick about the clods with his feet, in a 
sort of vague expectation of finding something, he all at -once 
imagined he saw something flash amid the clayey soil. He 
stooped to look more closely, and the next moment grasped the 
lower end of an iron shovel v/hich had been lightly covered with 
earth. 

" There it is !" he exclaimed in great surprise at the discovery; 

gold there sure enough — American left his tools here — coming 
again— I was a fool to give it up — hm — deuce take it ! " 

The conjecture was probable enough, if, indeed, any man 
could bring himself to believe he could find gold at the top of 
a hill. The fact of leaving a spade or pickaxe in a hole partly 
dug, or even only marked out, was supposed, according to miner's 
law, to reserve the place to the proprietor of the tool ; and the 
spade had, perhaps, been lightly covered with earth, lest a 
passer-by should be tempted to take it away with him. Any 
one who began to dig here could not fail to find it. 



THE COUNSELLOU's DISCOVEEY. 



225 



The Counsellor, now fully persuaded that some -workman more 
fortunate than himself had discovered gold here, found himself 
on the horns of a dilemma ; for he did not know whether he 
still possessed the right of working the place, particularly with 
another man's spade ; he feared such a proceeding might be an 
infraction of miners' law. Nevertheless it was a kind of triumph 
for him to see his " mountain labours,'' as Binderhof had con- 
temptuously called them, brought to a successful issue. At one 
time he had almost made up his mind to give himself the benefit 
of the doubt, and begin working the hole again, regardless of the 
spade left tl^ere ; but his habitual reverence for established law 
and custom^gained the victory. He had given up the place. 
Some one else had worked it, and left a tool there in token of 
possession ; so he could not touch it again ; and therefore he 
turned away, not in the best possible humour, and made his way 
back into the valley, to assist the Assessor at his work. Before 
he went, he covered up the spade, as it had been when he 
found it. 

The Assessor, who had never handled a pick or a spade in his 
life before, had blistered his hands in the most undeniable 
manner ; and it was with a feeling of great satisfaction that he 
saw the hands of his watch pointing to the dinner hour. The 
two friends walked back to their tent as quickly as they might, 
the Counsellor revolving many schemes as he went, for recom- 
mencing his " mountain labours " without delay. 

On the way he told his companion the v/hole story, in a way 
that led the Assessor to believe his friend had lost at least a 
couple of thousand dollars by not carrying out the work he had 
begun. 

Their dinner was soon prepared and despatched ; but both of 
them holding the opinion that working directly after dinner was 
a dangerous and hurtful practice, they remained sitting for 
half an hour after their meal, for the better carrying on of the 
digestive process. The Counsellor sat enjoying his pipe, while 
the Assessor inspected the palms of his hands, with whose 
appearance he was by no means satisfied. 

As they thus sat at their fire, each absorbed in his own reflec- 
tions. Count Beckdorf came striding up the hill with his spade 
and pickaxe on his shoulder, and his great tin pan in his hand. 
He was just going to pass the two Germans, when he suddenly 
recognized the Counsellor. 

" Ah, see there ! " he exclaim.ed, with a courteous gesture to 
the man of law ; " I see you have changed your residence. 
Well, how did you settle with old Tomlins the other day 

Q 



226 



THE COUNSELLOE's DISCOVEEY. 



" Ah, your servant, Count ! " answered the Counsellor, lifting 
his cap ; " thank you, I got on badly — black rascal — seven cotton 
shirts, and every one torn." 

Why, what's this ? " asked the young man, laughing ; 
"you've knocked your pipe-bowl, and made it bleed." 

" Pipe-bowl ! — ah — yes ; by the way. Count, I wanted to ask 
you something." 

"I am at your service." 

"If I've dug a hole and go away, may another come and 
take it 

" Certainly not, until you have done with it. When you no 
longer w^ant it, and take your tools out, every one has a right to 
try his luck. I've sometimes found very handsome prizes in 
abandoned claims." 

" Hem — deuce take it." 

" Has anything of the kind happened to you ?" 

"Why, yes — dug a capital hole — up there on the mountain-— 
found nothing — began somewhere else — had forgotten my tinder- 
box up there — went to look for it — this one," and he took the 
box from his pocket, and held it up, in illustration of what he 
said. 

" Why, that's bloody too !" exclaimed Beckdorf. 

"Ugh — so it is 1" observed the Counsellor, v/iping it hastily 
on a piece of paper. " I don't know — thought I'd torn my 
finger — but I haven't." 

"And about your claim?" interrupted the Count, who began 
to be impatient at the length of the story. 

"Ah, yes — came back to the place where I'd dug hole — 
another man had been there." 

"And had made the hole on the mountain deeper ^^'^ asked 
Count Beckdorf, rather incredulously ; for he knew the Coun- 
sellor's weakness, and could not understand how any one else 
could be mad enough to dig for gold in such impossible 
places. 

" No, no, not at all !" cried the Counsellor, pettishly; " they'd 
filled it up to the top, and covered the spade over with earth." 

" Covered the spade ?" repeated the Count, suddenly becoming 
interested. 

" Yes, they had — some confounded American." 
"And did you dig down again ?" 
"No — spade was there — didn't like." 
"And your tinder-box?" 

"Lying not far off under a bush — had been sitting there." 
"But the blood?" 



THE COUKSELLOE's BISCOVEEY. 



227 



"Deuce knows — somebody's nose bled, I suppose/' 
"I tell you what, Counsellor," said Beckdorf eagerly; "some- 
thing more serious than you think for has happened up there, 
and we must let the sheriii know about it without loss of time; 
we must 2^0 to him at once.." 

" Sheriff! — how so ? — Why, you don't mean to say •" 

"That there has been murder committed up there? Yes, 
indeed I do ; and you'll find the proofs in your own hole. Is it 
far from here ? " 

" About a mile and a half." 

" Well, then we will delay no longer, and I'll go with you 
myself to investigate the affair." 

"Nonsense," grumbled the Counsellor in an incredulous but 
rather a faint tone. He could not believe that such an affair 
should have occurred, and that he, the lawyer, should never have 
suspected it ; his very instinct ought to have secured him against 
such ignorance. Still, the spots of blood had rather disquieted 
him ; and he now recollected having noticed one or two dark 
spots on the trampled moss. So he made no objection to going 
to the sheriff and making his report. 

fortunately. Hale happened to be at home. He at once 
pronounced the affair a suspicious one; and a few minutes after- 
wards the four men were proceeding along the road towards the 
mountains — the Counsellor wishing the Assessor to be present as 
a witness. 

On their way they met Siftly striding along with his poncho 
thrown Mexican fashion over his left shoulder. He nodded, in 
passing, to the sheriff, who hardly returned his greeting; and the 
gamester remained after they had gone, looking back at the 
little party with an evil smile on his face. 

Count Beckdorf noticed it, and felt annoyed; but a glance at 
his two worthy companions, the Counsellor and Assessor, seemed 
almost to justify the American's laughter ; and the young man 
was obliged to confess to himself that these two characters 
looked quite strange enough to provoke the smile of a Yankee, 
though in Germany they belonged to too numerous a class to 
excite any particular notice. 

Our two friends had, however, something else to do than to 
trouble themselves about the looks or remarks of passers-by; 
for the sheriff strode on at such a pace that they could hardly 
keep up with him. On level ground they managed by dint of 
great exertion to do so ; but on their arrival at the foot of the 
hill, the Counsellor, unused to so much hurry, _ declared roundly 
that he would not mn himself into a consumption to please any- 

Q 2 



228 



THE COUNSELLOE's DISCOVEEY. 



body ; a^id as lie was the only one of the party who knew the 
spot of which they were in search, the rest had no choice but to 
do as he wished, and slacken their pace. 

The first place the sheriff desired to see on their arrival was 
the spot where the box had been found ; and a single glance 
convinced him that a deed of violence had really been per- 
petrated here. Then he went quickly to the filled- up hole, 
uncovered the spade that lay hidden there, and began to throw 
out the earth. 

He had not to work long. Scarcely a foot below the surface 
lay the unhappy victim of the murderer ; and half an hour after- 
vrards, in conjunction with Count Beckdorf, who shuddered as 
he lent his assistance in the ghastly work, the corpse of an 
American was drawn forth from its narrow grave, into which 
some miscreant had thrown it, and covered it hastily with earth. 
The poor wretch's pickaxe and tin pan lay beside him ; and it 
was easy to guess how the whole affair had occurred. 

There was a shot-wound in the dead man's head, and three 
stabs in his body, apparently inflicted by a broad-bladed 
knife, though they might have been dealt with one of the sabres 
the Mexicans are accustomed to carry ; the traces of a horse's 
feet were visible in the vicinity. The man had doubtless laid 
himself down upon the mossy bank to sleep, v/hen his murderer 
came upon him, and shot him through the head. The wound, 
however, did not appear to have been fatal at once, though it 
was, no doubt, mortal ; for there were evidences of a struggle 
on the soft moss. The stabs had given him his quietus, and the 
murderer had dragged his victim to the hole, thrown in the 
body with the pickaxe and pan, and filled up the hole with the 
dead man's own spade, which he had laid on the top and covered 
lightly with earth, to conceal the last trace of his crime. He 
could be tolerably sure that the body would lie there for some 
time, before any one cared to turn up the earth at such an un- 
likely spot. 

Certainly nobody but the Counsellor would have undertaken 
such a task : so the murderer had made his calculations astutely 
enough. Indeed, the sheriff could not believe that any one 
could have dag here in the expectation of finding gold ; the 
idea seem.ed too insane. But Count Beekdorf confirmed the 
fact of the Counsellor's "mountain labours," and offered to 
show the slierifl' at least a dozen similar spots on which the 
man of law had wasted his energies, with always the same 
result. 

" Then he must be downright cracked," was Hale's flattering 



THE COTJXSELLOa's DISCOTEEY. 



229 



verdict; unheard, luckily, by the person on wliose sanity the 
opinion was pronounced. 

The first thing the sheriff -uished to have done vras to trails- 
port the body into the town, to see if any one would recognize it. 
So he proposed, as there were four of them, that two at a time 
should carry the man by turns ; but the xissessor and Counsellor 
negatived the proposal with indignation. 

" Tell him,'' suggested the latter, "to fetch, two policemen or 
gendarmes. Shan't do it ; — carrying dead bodies ! — nonsense." 

"And we mayn't remove him at all," protested the old- 
fashioned Assessor, " till some American o^cial has been here, 
to make a report of the affair. This gentleman here doesn't 
take any notes ; what is he to do about sending in a formal 
report ? And where is lie to get the form from ? " 

The sheriff laughed, when Count Beckdorf translated this 
speech, and at last observed — 

" Well, we two can't lug him down into the tovm ; and per- 
haps it isn't even necessary. The young fellows may run up 
here and look at the man to see if any one knows him. If he 
has any friends, they'll fetch him down fast enough ; and if he 
has not, we have nothing to do but to dig him a decent grave, 
poor fellow — not a hole like this into which the murderer has 
bundled him. At any rate, I must send up two boys with axes 
this evening, to lay him on a sort of platform, or the wolves 
won't leave much of him. I wonder if he has any gold in his 
pockets? " 

"That's scarcely likely," answered Beckdorf, shaking his _ 
head. " See, his right-hand pocket is turned inside out : the 
murderer has robbed him." 

" xind most lilvcly committed the murder for the sake of a few 
grains of gold. There's a rascally set of fellows hanging about 
the mines, and it's really high time to adopt strong measures with 
them." 

" But how are we to get hold of them ?' 

" It's a difficult thing, but not impossible. Of course we want 
a different sort of man to do it than that old fool of a 
Major." ^ . 

" Nearly all these murders are put dovrn to the Mexicans, 
observed Count Beckdorf. " Do you think,^ Sheriff, that a 
Mexican has made away with this poor fellow ?" 

" No," answered Hale ; and for a moment he glanced at the 
Counsellor. But suspicion in such a peaceable quarter was 
impossible, and he turned away, smiling at himself, and con- 
tinued: "A white man has his death to answer for; whether an 



230 



HSTSON A.-ND SUBTLY. 



American or an Englisliman, time, I liope, v^ill show. The 
\YOund is too broad for a sabre, and the Mexicans seldom carry 
firearms, and don't know how to nse them properly when 
they do/' 

'^^Tliat bungling bullet-shot in the head would then look as if 
a Mexican had fired it 

Perhaps ; but still I think it will turn out otherwise. Some 
of our scamps find it very handy to lay every bit of rascality to 
the Mexicans, and thus to kill two birds with one stone. But 
we'll make haste down, for this murder has been committed very 
lately — perhaps no longer ago than yesterday, — and the sooner 
it's looked into the better." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HETSON AND SIPTLY. 

The sheriff was at first inclined to take our two worthy friends, 
the Counsellor and the Assessor, into the town with him as wit- 
nesses ; but he changed his mind, on considering that they spoke 
no English, and that they would, moreover, be sure to make their 
appearance in the evening. Count Beckdorf, however, whose 
appetite for work had been entirely taken away by the events of 
the afternoon, accompanied him, and they carried the tragic news 
into the town together. 

Though the strangers in the little community received the 
news very quietly, the Americans were very indignant that any 
one should have dared to waylay a citizen of the Great Republic. 
The news ran like wildfire from claim to claim, and within an 
hour a troop of young fellows had started off to bring home the 
corpse, and lay it out in the town for inspection. 

^ Among these was a person named Cook, who at once recog- 
nized the murdered man. Cook had namely betaken himself to 
" Carlton's Plat," another mining place, about a fortnight before ; 
and, after working for a few days in company with the murdered 
man, be had rerurned to Paradise, Johns — as the poor fellow 
called himself — prom.ising to follow him. Cook described the 
deceased as a quiet, straightforward nian, from the State of Yir- 



HETSOiT AND SIFTLY. 



231 



ginia, who had come across the Eocky Mountains with a caravan 
the previous year, and had since, by industry and frugality, 
amassed a_ small capital. A man of ''a peaceable and retiring 
character, it seemed very improbable that he had become involved 
in a quarrel. The most feasible conjecture was that he had been 
basely attacked, robbed, and muidered. But who was the 
murderer ? 

In spite of the doubts expressed by the sheriff, the popular 
voice persisted in accusing the Mexicans; and, on the very even- 
ing of the discovery, a meeting of Americans was called, to deli- 
berate on the steps to be taken for preserving the lives and the 
property of the citizens of the United States from similar attacks, 
as well as to vindicate the cause of justice in the case of the late 
murder. 

The meeting was held in Kenton's tent ; and though admittance 
was not denied to strangers, they did not seem to be welcome 
when they presented themselves. Nevertheless, a few German 
and Erench miners who understood English appeared among the 
crowd, and a shout was raised for " Old Nolten " to come for- 
ward and preside. But Nolten had been away for the last week 
among the mountains, looking out for a fresh claim, and Briars, 
one of the noisiest fellows present, and one always ready for 
anything like a row, was chosen in his stead. The proceedings 
assumed from the very beginning a rather tumultuous and lawless 
aspect ; for Briars at once brought forward a motion for the 
immediate disarming and expulsion of all foreigners ; and the hot- 
headed gold-washers — chiefly backwoodsmen from the Western 
States — yelled and shouted in approbation of the sweeping 
measure. 

"What do we get by the strangers ?" roared Briars, jumping 
on a table in his excitement, and working his arms round and 
round like millsails. "They come prying round — Britishers, 
i'renchmen, Dutchmen, and Mexicans— plundering oui' mines, 
and bolting off to their own old cribs of countries with what tliey 
can get out of ours. Do they even so much as obey our laws 
while they stay here ? No — I say no ! — they attack the very 
citizens of the states where they're making their fortunes, Avith 
their cursed pistols and knives ; and the m.urder that is found 
out to-day is what comes of our not having risen up and cleared 
them off out of California long ago. Our fathers spilt their 
blood— their precious blood, boys, to gain freedom for us ; and 
we, boys, as we stand here now, ought to be ready to spiW our 
blood at any moment for our free country, for our glonous 
flag—- 



232 



HETSON AND SIETLY. 



" Hurrah ! Hip, bip — hurrah ! Three cheers for the glorious 
flag shouted the whole company; and for a minute or two the 
orator's voice was drowned in the tumult. At last partial silence 
was restored, and he continued : — • 

" Yes, boys, and we are ready to spill our blood at our country's 
call; but we wont take the chance of being waylaid and mur- 
dered by a set of European robbers !" 

" Hurrah != — European robbers I that's the ticket ! — go it, old 
boy!" shouted a lanky Kentuckian, Vvdth unqualified approbation. 
" The Britishers have been sending their thieves to Australia; 
but the fellows there won't let 'em land, and so now California's 
to be the place for pouring out all the filthy scum from their 
jails. Boys, we won't stand it ! Drat me, if there didn't come 
a whole shipload of them to San I'rancisco last week — reg'lar 
Botany Bay varmints ; and our government were fools enough to 
let 'em come ashore. But if they've such sleepy old coons for 
judges there, we needn't stand it up here in the mines. I guess 
we're free men ; our fathers spilt their blood for their " 

" Hip, hip — hurrah ! " roared the crowd, who never fail to 
respond to a bit of patriotic lustian. 

" They spilt their blood for their freedom, and what we've got 
to do is to keep our'n," continued the Kentucky man ; and let's 
try if we can't keep off this pack of English, Irish, and Mexican 
scoundrels !" 

"Bravo, Jim ! Go it, old boy ! — give it to 'em 1" shouted the 
audience, who had been warming their enthusiasm with " drops " 
of brandy. "We'll have a committee, and turn the whole lot of 
them out of the mines to-morrow morning." 

" Gentlemen !" cried Hale, who had been a silent but attentive 
witness of the whole proceedings, " will ye allow me to say a 
word in this business ?" 

" Certainly, Hale — stump it, old fellow ; get up on the table ; 
you're a capital chap — one of the good old American stock ! " 
was shouted in reply. 

" Thank ye," said Hale, as he responded to the invitation, and 
sprang upon the table from which the last speaker had just 
descended to go and moisten his parched throat with a drink of 
brandy at the bar. " Then, if I'm to say what I think straight 
out, I can only tell you, citizens of the United States, that you're 
kicking up a devil of a row ; but you're barking under the wrong 
tree, as they say in my state." 

"Hallo, Hale, what's in the wind?" asked one or two, in con- 
siderable astonishment. 

"It's nonsense^ boys !" continued the sheriff, who was not in 



HETSON AKD SIFTLY. 



233 



the least daunted ; you're wanting to hang the sheep to spite 
the wolf, and you haven't got the right, no nor the power, to do 
it. _ We don't know who was the murderer — he niio-ht be a 
Britisher, a Mexican, or an American." ° 

"Oh, d— n it, Hale," cried Briars; "Americans don't cut 
one another's throats, — and you ought to be the last man to 
stand up for a parcel of foreigners. Our ancestors spilt their 
blood " 

"There, there, don't hash up that old story," interrupted the 
irreverent Hale. " I stick to my country as much as any fellow 
can, but I don't think it's any use to be always warming up old 
bygones; besides, we know very well what we've got to do. 
Just give me p'oofs that strangers have done this, and I'll risk 
my life to get the rope put round the murderer's neck. But 
until we're quite certain that we haven't to look for him at home, 
we'd best not be too sharp in fitting the collar on any one, — 
that's not the way free Americans ought to act." 

" And how about the scamps from Botany Bay, who landed 
last week ? " asked the Kentuckian, wrathfully. 

" They'd best look out that we don't catch them at any of their 
tricks," answered Hale ; but till we do catch them we can't 
punish them, — and I'm sure there isn't any one here who'd wish 
to have one man punished for what another has done." 

" Gentlemen," cried a deep voice from among the crowd," will 
you let me make a sensible proposition ? " 

"By all means, if it is a sensible one," grumbled Hale ; " for 
we've listened to nonsense enough, in all conscience." 

" Yery good," continued Siftly, for he it was who had spoken ; 
and he threw his hat and poncho on a chair on which he had been 
sitting, and he stood upright on the seat; "at any rate I won't 
detain you long, I'm sure you'll agree, gentlemen, that till we 
have some further evidence, it's a waste of time for us to stand 
here in this tent disputing who committed this murder, — an 
American or a foreigner. The universal voice, which is seldom 
wrong, has certainly fixed the blame upon some stranger ; and 
with the experience I have had in different parts of the country, 
I don't hesitate for a moment to say that I am of the same 
opinion." 

" Hurrah ! " — "Bravo !" — " Go on ! " — was shouted from 
different parts of the tent. 

" But unfortunately," continued Siftly, without heeding the 
interruption, "we're in this position : we couldn't do anything, 
even if we had further evidence — I mean not —because 
we have not a legal head. My advice is that we proceed at once 



234 



HETSON AND SIETLY. 



to clioose a judge or alcalde among ourselves, before we take any 

further steps in this matter." 

Hale looked up in astonishment ; for the bearded stranger, of 
whom he had not formed a very favourable opinion, was the last 
man from whom he would have expected such a proposal as 
Siftly had just made; nevertheless, he acquiesced most gladly, 
for though they had got on well enough for a week or two in 
their little mining town v/ithout any legal authority, the aspect 
of affairs was very much changed now that they had to proceed 
in so serious a matter as highway robbery and murder. 

The former difficulty — that of finding a competent man for the 
office — still existed, and though such places were generally given 
away without much deliberation, the flight of Major Eyot had 
infused something like caution among the community, v/ho were 
naturally anxious not to make a second mistake of the kind. 

The young Americans were of course ready enough to propose 
several of their friends, each of whom they declared "would make 
a prime alcalde ; " but as these prime candidates were chiefly 
famous for skill in rifle-shooting and a general disposition to 
quarrel, Hale, who would be the chief sufferer from theii' incom- 
petency or want of temper, declared that the new alcalde must 
be a man well acquainted with the laws, otherwise he would be 
worse than useless. 

Up jumped the fieiy Briars, who had expected a different 
result from the meeting. 

" Laws ! " he shouted. What the mischief do we want with 
laws here ? Do they prevent the rascally strangers from murder- 
ing and robbing us, eh ? Do they protect our property ? Is 
there any one here who cares a rap about them, or who can carry 
them out ? Who cares a button for your long rigmarole writings 
out here in the woods, where they're only good to make gun- 
wads of ? If we're to have an alcalde at all, give us a man; that's 
all we ask you for, — the rest we'll attend to ourselves." 

"Gentlemen," interposed Siitly, mounting again into the 
chair from vfhich he had stepped down at the conclusion of his 
former concise speech, " I am certainly a new comer among you 
here, but I know the mines well, and have been knocking about 
among them for the last six months ; and when I tell you that I 
was on the Committee at Sonora, where they disarmed all but 
the Americans, I fancy you'll allow that I'm not a man for half- 
measures. Bat if we can manage to keep the law on our side, 
and yet to retain the right of government, which belongs to us 
Americans, of course it's so much the better ; and therefore I 
fully agree with our worthy sheriff, Mr. Hale. There happens, 



HETSON AXD SIFTLY. 



235 



by good luck, to be a man among ns, thongb I don't see Hm here 
at this present moment, who unites the qualities we want ; he's 
a determined, resolute man, ~ an American of the old domniioii, 
and a first-rate lawyer. Besides, he's a married man, and has 
brought his wife with him,— a proof that he's not one of those 
swindling loafers who're here to-day and gone to-morrow. ]N[ov/, 
if we could persuade him to take the office of alcalde, I believe, I 
may say I'm certain that all the Americans would be satisfied, 
and all American interests properly looked after; and I for one 
would give him my vote and support, once and for all." 

" You mean Mr. Hetson ? " said the sheriff. 

"That's the man; and though he's only been here a little 
while, I don't think that ought to tell against hira." 

"Well," said Hale, "Mr. Hetson, so far as I know, seems to 
me a very sensible, upright man; and if he's really a lawyer, as 
this gentleman says, he shall have my support, with all my 
heart." 

" But why isn't he here ? " cried Briars. Hang it ! I should 
think every American ought to be present at a meeting like this, 
and no one has a right to keep av/ay." 

"Gentlemen," interposed Mr. Smith, the long card-player, 
" we ought to remember — we hadn't ought to forget that he's 
got to fix up that tent of his, for his wife and the gal that's with 
her. We men can get along well enough here in the mines, so * 
long as we've something over our heads to keep off the sun and 
rain ; but when a man brings his famOy along here, I guess he's 
got to look about him." 

The advocacy was not very fortunate. Hale looked askance 
at the speaker, and felt half sorry to have given his support to a 
man v/ho was proposed and seconded by two such fellows as 
Siftly and Smith, vfho had doubtless their own ends in view, 
and would not have taken such a step vnthout knowing the 
reason why. He resolved to watch them narrowly. The other 
Americans now assembled in groups, to discuss the question, and 
seemed quite to have forgotten the original intention of their 
meeting. 

Curiously enough, the fact that Hetson was a married man, 
and had brought his wife with him, seemed to carry great weight 
with these wild, reckless youug fellows. It gave him a kind of 
patriarchal interest in their eyes ; and a well-timed assurance 
from Siftly, that his friend hated all intruders "like poison," 
was enough to turn the scale at once in Hetson's favour. Even 
Briars had no further objection to make, and the motion being 
put immediately to the vote, was carried by acclam.ation. 



236 



ESTSOX AXL SirTLI. 



It was now evening; and some one suggested that the 
announcement to the new alcalde of the dignity conferred upon 
him should be deferred till the next day, as it seemed too late 
to disturb the ladies that night. Siftly undertook to make 
Hetson aware of the fact next morning early ; and all further 
steps in the matter were postponed till the gold-washers should 
come home at noon to their dinners. 

Nothing more was settled that evening. Briars made an 
abortive attempt to get a resolution passed for turning away all 
foreigners from the diggings at once, and proposed that placards 
should be prepared in French, German, and Spanish, requiring 
them to quit immediately; but the majority — some of them 
already tired of deliberating — others because they expected 
more sensible measures from the new alcalde — decided that 
everything should stand over until they consulted the new head 
of the community; so the tables were cleared, and the usual 
amusements of the evening began. 

Next morning no American went to his work ; for their poor 
murdered countryman was to be buried. Nearly every one 
joined the procession ; and the corpse was carried by relays of 
men out into the red flat, to rest in the earth lately the scene of 
such feverish activity. 

Siftly had excused himself from attendance at the funeral. 
He wished to call upon Hetson, to announce the startling news, 
and obtain his acceptance of the office. He promised to com- 
municate the result to the men, in Kenton's tent, on their return 
from burying the American. 

The tw^o friends had not met since their arrival in the little 
town. Siftly had avoided Hetson — he hardly liked to acknow- 
ledge to himself why, — so this opportunity was doubly welcome ; 
and never doubting but that his friend would at once accept the 
office, he strode off towards his tent. 

Hetson had made good use of the preceding day in the 
improvement of his household affairs. Not only was his tent 
as well arranged as the circumstances would allow, but a smaller 
one had been erected behind it, as a place for storing up 
provisions and keeping cooking utensils; while the open 
space between the two tents, over which an awning could be 
spread in case of sudden rain, answered the purpose of a 
kitchen. 

The chief tent, divided off into three portions, formed a sitting- 
room and two bedrooms. One of the former was given up to 
Manuela, whose father slept at night in the second tent ; and in 
the daytime the young Spanish girl, who had insisted on taking 



HETSON AND SIFTLY. 



237 



charge of the culinary arrangements, worked merrily amon^ the 
pots and pans, and "impedimenta" of all kinds. 

She was cheerful and gay as a lark— the light-hearted daughter 
of the South, whom a hard destiny had thrown on this inhospi- 
table coast. The day when she met pretty Mrs. Hetson had 
been for her the beginning of a new era. The terrible time 
when she had been compelled to sacrifice her talent to the hateful 
task of luring gamblers into a gaming-heil was past, she hoped, 
for ever ; now she no longer gazed, while her heart stood still 
with grief and anxiety, upon the pale face of her father, to read 
there the certainty that he had again sacrificed his own and his 
daughter's peace of mind to the demon of play, who haunted him 
day and night. In work, which she gratefully and gladly under- 
took, the days passed merrily away ; and every night she blessed 
the kind hand that had led her forth from the horrible, glaring 
gambling-booth, with its oaths, and blasphemy, and vice. 

On this morning she had risen, as usual, at dawn, and was 
working like a little bee at the stove, to get breakfast ready in 
time. Cut off by the larger tent from communication with the 
street, she had been entirely undisturbed in her operations ; for 
since the disturbance about Major Ryot, no one worked in the 
" red flat," which bounded the little tent at the back. 

In the very act of humming a tune, as she endeavoured to 
make the great coffee-pot boil by piling little pieces of dry wood 
about its blackened surface, she suddenly raised her head, and, 
Vvdth a suppressed scream, stood as if fascinated, like a bird 
before a snake; for opposite her, as unexpected as if he had sud- 
denly risen out of the ground, with a grin on his hairy coun- 
tenance, and malicious glee in his piercing black eyes, stood the 
man she hated and feared most on earth — William Siftly. She 
would have fled, but she could not move a limb ; she would have 
stretched out her arms to keep him off, but they hung at her 
sides like lead; so she stood with her ayes fixed in horrified 
apprehension on the intruder, v/aiting till he should break 
silence. 

" Ah, see there !— my little Spanish dove began Siftly, wiili 
a grin, seemingly unconscious of the detestation with which she 
regarded him. ''Elown &way from San Erancisco, I perceive, to 
carry the olive-branch into our Paradise here, eh ? Why, that's 
capital. I'm truly glad to meet you again; and how goes it 
with you?" He stretched out his hand to the girl, wlio, half- 
stunned with the sudden surprise, mechanically put forth hers, 
which Siftly grasped, aud seemed inclined to retain. 

But it was not part of his plan to force his company upon 



238 



HETSON AND SIPTLY. 



Manuela ; so he let go her hand, and asked, in broken Spanish, 
whether Senor Hetson was at home. 

Manuela nodded : she could not find voice to speak. 

"Bueno, my child continued Siftly, laughing at her evident 
terror of him; "then will you kindly tell him that an old 
iriend " 

" Why, Siftly," exclaimed Hetson, who had heard and recog- 
nized the voice, and who now appeared at the back entrance of 
the tent, " are you here too ? " 

" Yes, my boy, as you see ; and Tve brought you good news 
too." 

"News for meF^' asked Hetson, eagerly — and a red flush 
mounted to his forehead ; — " but not here,'' he added, quickly ; 
"come round to the front entrance; I'll undo the curtain ; and 
as soon as I'm ready we'll walk out into the flat together." 

" It's no secret," said Siftly, laughing; "but I'll go round, and 
we can talk it over together." 

He nodded to Manuela, and disappeared as quickly as he had 
come, behind the tent ; while Hetson went out, in some excite- 
ment, to welcom.e his old acquaintance. Though he had no sus- 
picion of Siftly's real character, it was — he knew not why — 
disagreeable to him to meet any one here who knew him. He 
had hoped to live for a while unknown and unremarked in this 
little out-of-the-way place; and then, strengthened by rest and 
the fresh mountain air, to embark for the Sandwich Islands — 
perhaps to get rid of the thoughts that had weighed upon him 
month after month. Now, with the appearance of the man to 
whom he bad opened his heart at San Erancisco, there came 
upon him the thought of another who might in like manner dis- 
cover his retreat, and throw down the whole fabric of rest and 
security he had been laboriously building up for himself. 

" Good morning, Hetson!" said Siftly, when the canvas door 
was opened, as carelessly as if they had parted the evening 
before, instead of being separated by many eventful weeks. 
" How do you find yourself up here ? You look rather peaky 
still. Well, our mountain air will set you up in no time. Capital 
air and a famous climate, here in California — that one can't 
deny, — and we didn't make such a bad deal with Mexico, ton- 
sidering all the gold we got into the bargain. Ha, ha ! the 
senores will swear finely when they see us picking out the 
gold from under their very noses, and they not having found 
a trace of it duriug all the years they've been squatting 
here.'^ 

" And what is it you had to tell me, Siftly ?" 



HETSON AND SirTLY. 



239 



" Ah, yes ! deuce take it, I'd nearly forgotten tlie most im- 
portant thing." 

"Does it concern Jiim whispered Hetson, seizing his 
friend's arm, and griping it violently. 

" Hallo— /zm cried Siftly, in amazement. Oh, I remem- 
ber ! you mean your 

"Hush — not so loud, — one can hear every word here.'* 

" No, no, man ; don't alarm yourself ! " expostulated the 
gamester ; " and by the way, I wish you'd give up your foolish 
nervousness about the fellow. Supposing he were to come 
here?" 

" Then you know where lie is ! " interrupted Hetson, in a 
voice of suppressed anxiety. 

"He's where, for the present at least, he can't do you any 
harm," said Siftly ; who knew as little about Charles Gohvay's 
whereabout as Hetson himself, but found it profitable to his 
purpose to keep the image of his dreaded rival continually before 
the sufferer's mind ; " but I come to offer you something, which 
if you accept it, would give you the power to render him 
harmless if he made his way even into your tent; and I 
could not have come more opportunely to these mines than just 
now." 

" What do you mean ? " 

" You've heard that one of our people was murdered here a 
few days ago ?" 

" Yes. The boasted security of the mines doesn't seem to be 
borne out by facts." 

" Ball !" laughed the other ; " you'll hear of more such things 
here soon enough. People inill be deceived; and of course 
there are plenty who'll undertake to deceive them. Eesides, 
such things occur in the most civilized towns in the world; so 
it's hardly to be wondered at that they sometimes come to pass 
in our mountains, which swarm with Indians, Mexicans, and 
English convicts. The only wonder is that crimes happen so 
seldom, and that we seem to live in our thin canvas tents 
as safely as our friends at home within their vvalls of brick and 
stone. Nevertheless, the good citizens of this town have deter- 
mined to put a stop to such doings for the future. Yesterday 
evening we had a general meeting, at which, by the way, you 
ought to have been present ; and there an alcalde, a good reso- 
lute man was chosen — an American, of course." 

" But what's all this to me ?" 

" More, perhaps, than you imagine ; for I must tell you that 
the people have been sensible enough not to choose one of the 



HETSON AND SIFTLY. 



hot-headed care-for-noiight's who swarm here in the mines, for 
their alcalde, but you 

"Me !" exclaimed Hetson, jumping up from the chair in 
which he had seated himself next his guest. " You must have 
been dreaming. Who knows me here 

" I know you, my old friend, and that was enough. Whoever 
knows how to manage people like that can turn them any way 
he likes, either for good or for evil. So I proposed you, and 
they chose you unanimously. Now they've gone out to bury the 
body they brought in out of the mountains yesterday, and v/hen 
they come back, you will be formally installed. 

Hetson walked up and down the tent ODce or twice, thought- 
fully, with folded arms. Suddenly he stopped in front of ISiftly, 
and held out his hand : — 

" I thank you. Bill," he said, " for your friendship, for I know 
you intended to do me a service ; but I cannot and shall not 
accept the honour intended for me." 

" Not accept it ! — and why ? " 

" Because I don't know^ how long I shall stay liere ; indeed, 
it's most probable that I shall be going away in a fortnight or ^ 
so. Whether I'm the proper kind of person for the alcalde of a i 
mining town is a question upon which we need not enter now. \ 
But you only know me by what I was at home. I am now more ] 
unsettled, more restless, more impatient than I used to be; and ' 
so far as I understand the matter, the alcalde here ought to have 
the same ideas as the people generally; he should make common 
cause with them, and take a real interest in what concerns them. 
Therefore I don't think the people here would be satisfied with 
a man like me for their judge." 

" So you want to be off ! — Where to ? " 

"I hardly know myself," replied Hetson, vrith a weary sigh. 
I thought life among the mountains was different to what I find 
it — quieter, and with less excitement. There is the bustle and 
commotion of a great town in this little nest of tents, only that i 
it is more concentrated ; and if I allowed myself to be made the 
centre around which these erratic stars were to turn, how should 
I find the rest and relief I seek ? " 

*'Take your hat, and come out with me!" said Siftly, who 
had listened patiently to his friend's objections ; " I'd rather say 
what I have still to tell you in the open air. I see, moreover, 
your cloth is laid, and I should not like to disturb Mrs. Hetson 
at breakfast. Besides," he added, sinking his voice, "the walls 
here are thin, and I don't want any one else to hear what's 
intended only for you. 



nETSOjN' ANB SIITLY. 



2il 



Hetson looked at liim in his anxious way, hut did as he was 
requested ; he took his hat, and followed the gamester from the 
tent. 

Outside, Siftly took his arm, and as he led him down the street, 
in which they only met one or two loiterers, he continued : — 

" So you wanted to go still furtiier into the mountains ? " 

" Yes ! " answered Hetson, with some hesitation ; " althour^h 
I don't quite know in what direction." 

"And don't you think you may just happen to meet the man 
whom you're so anxious to avoid ? '^ 

" Then you do know where he is ! " exclaimed Hetson vehe- 
mently. 

" Bah ! " answered Siftly, carelessly ; " w^ho can say of a man, 
here in the mines, that he's in such and such a place, when the 
whole population is always on the move, looking out for some 
richer claim — even when they've nothing else in view. To-day 
you find a man living in one place, and to-morrovf you'll meet 
him in the wood, wdth his blanket on his shoulder, tramping off 
to some other town, where, perhaps, he won't remain many 
hours." 

" But if he should find me and Jenny here ? " 

"Then you would be under the disagreeable necessity of 
sending a bullet through his brain ! " said Siftly, in a matter-of- 
fact way ;• " which, even if it did not lead to serious results, 
might cause a good deal of trouble and annoyance — that is, if 
you continue to live here only as a private man." 

"And what difterence woukl it make, if I w^ere alcalde?" 
asked Hetson, shaking his head. 

" What difference ? Why, all the difference in the world. 
You'd keep that fellow at a distance, like the rest of the vaga- 
bonds from beyond sea ; and you'll hardly doubt that we'll lend 
you a hand. I need scarcely assure you of that." 

" You speak in riddles." 

" My good sir, you w^ere not at our meeting yesterday, and 
did not hear the resolutions we passed. We've thoroughly made 
up our minds to make a stand against the vagabonds from 
abroad, who make the mountains unsafe — particularly the 
Britishers and Irishers, who are most of them escaped convicts 
who find their way here from Australia. That Charles— what's 
his name ? " 

" Golway.'^ 

" Well, that Golw^ay is an Englishman ; and if he were an 
honest fellov/, he wouldn't be prying round after another man's 
wife. So as soon as he show^s his face here — and we shall find 



242 



EETSON AND SIFTLY. 



him out soon enough, — he'll have notice given him to make 
himself scarce, and Lord have mercy on him if he neglects the 
warning ; but if anotlier man is chosen alcalde, through your 
obstiuiitcly refusiug your chance, why I won't be answerable for 
anything. Gold will do anything here in the mountains ; and if 
we get another judge like tjiat fellow who ran away the other 
day, Golway will only have to pay an ounce or two for leave to 
stay as long as ever he likes. The people only care to keep 
off ' the great mass of interlopers, and will never trouble them- 
selves about a single man, particularly if the alcalde stands bail 
for him." 

"6iftly, if I knew " 

" Nonsense — don't be ridiculous, my good fellow; you'll never 
in your life have such another opportunity of getting rid of your 
troubles ; and then, hang it, man, you're not bound to the soil 
here. If you take it into your head in a fortnight's or a month's 
time to leave the place, who's to say you nay ? We're free peo- 
ple here, and every one may come and go as he likes — at least 
every American, to whom the soil properly belongs." 

" And if I were really to accept the post you offer m.e ? " said 
Hetson, hesitating. 

" Then throw dull care overboard," struck in Siftly, with a 
laugh. " You've nothing in the world to do but to stick faith- 
fully to your own countrymen in all things, which of course 
you'll do ; and you may be sure if you. want our arms in any 
business of yours, we shall not leave you in the lurch." 

" Come back into my tent," said Hetson, stopping suddenly; 
" you must breakfast with us ; and I'll ask my wife if she likes 
these mountains well enough to live for a short time among them." 

" Thank you — I've had my breakfast," answered Siftly; " and 
so far as Mrs. Hetson is concerned, I'll undertake to say she 
could not find a prettier spot than this valley among the moun- 
tains in all California. I've passed through the northern and 
southern mines, both, during my travels, and have scarcely ever 
found such a valley as this — not even on the Eeather Elver. 
Our countrymen, who gcnorallv name their towns by what they 
arc not, seem really to have hit the right nail on the head for 
once, when they called this ' Paradise. 
Well, at least come with me." 

" With .all my heart ; but first we must speak to those people 
yonder, who are coming toAvards us. They have already seen 
us, aufl know what I have Ix-en speaking io you about, if we 
were to go into the tent now, it would look like avoiding them; 
and the more boldly one meets such i'cllowSj at the outset, the 



IIETSON AND SIFTLY. 



213 



better. You must know that mucb. from your experience in the 
States/' 

Hetson stood still in perplexity ; for he really did not know, 
at the moment^ how to act; whether to accept the office of 
alcalde, or unconditionally to decline it. But Siftly relieved 
him of the trouble of thinking for himself. Waving his hat 
towards the approaching group, he shouted as loudly as he 
could : 

" Hallo, boys ! this way — here stands your new alcalde." 
" Siftly, you're hurrying me into a thing that I shall perhaps 
bitterly " 

" Repent ? Not a bit of it," interrupted the gambler, with 
his boisterous laugh. You'll be quite grateful to me — I know 
you will ; and the town will be all the better for it into the 
bargain." 

They had no time for further parley ; for the foremost among 
the crowd, returning from the funeral of the unhappy Johns, 
were within a few paces, and came straight towards them. Among 
them was Hale, who walked up to Hetson and shook him 
heartily by the hand, saying in his bluff way, — 

" Mr. Hetson, I'm glad you've accepted our choice. I cer- 
tainly can't promise you a very quiet life, for they're a restless 
lot up here in the mountains, and sometimes give a good deal of 
trouble. But if v,' e hold well together, I've no doubt we shall 
be able to keep our heads above water. I'm the sheriff, and my 
name's Hale." 

" Mr. Plale," answered Hetson, in some embarrassment, " I'm 
a perfect stranger in your little town ; and the honour you have 
done me is so unexpected that " 

" I beg your pardon," interrupted Hale, with a smile, " but I 
think you mistake the kind of office you've got — there's deuced 
little honour to be gained ; for you'd hardly find a more complete 
set of scamps than you'll have to deal with among us. But that 
don't matter, we've a few real good fellows as well, and with 
their help we'll manage to get through somehow." 

" Well, be it so," exclaimed Hetson, heartily returning the 
honest sheriff's squeeze ; " and be assured, Mr. Hale, that I 
shall do my best^to deserve the confidence you have placed 
in me." 

" Yery good," said Hale, " then that affair's settled. After- 
wards, if you've no objection, I'll come into your tent, and 
we'll look through the one or two papers the old Major Iclt 
behind him in his hurry. You. won't have much writing to do, 
unless you choose to make up work for yourself, for nearly 

b2 



244 



THE CHINAMEN. 



everything is done by word of mouth here^ which very muck 
lessens the work. But we must give notice to the county 
court, so as to get the appointment confirmed. Then we shall 
have our hands free.'' 

" Very well, Mr. Hale," said the new alcalde; " do whatever 
you think necessary, and remember that for some time I shall 
be dependent upon your practical information and experience." 

"We'll arrange all that, Mr. Hetson," answered the Sheriff, 
heartily : " all that is a secondary affair. The chief thing is 
that you should know a little about law, and have your heart in 
the right place." 

"I hope I shall fulfdboth conditions, Mr. Hale," saidHetsou, 
1 ughing. 

" So much the better for us all," answered blufp old Hale; 
\nd nodding to the new alcalde, he turned away, and without a 
look at the rest of the crowd, strode off towards his tent. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

TnE CHINAMEN. 

Afteh his interview vv'ith Hale, and his acceptance of the 
alcaldeship, which had come to him, he scarcely knew how, 
Hetson wished to take Siftly into his tent, to talk with him on 
several subjects ; but that astute diplomatist had several affairs 
to arrange with Mr. Smith, his worthy confederate, and now 
that he had succeeded in getting the man elected whom he hoped 
to mould like melted wax to his purposes, he wished to lose no 
valuable time. He saw well enough that fortune could not have 
brought him to these mines at a more happy moment ; and 
Siftly was just the man to make good use of any advantage chance 
threw in his way. 

Hetson himself, after exchanging a few friendly words with the 
crowd of Americans who welcomed him with hearty good feeling, 
was suddenly taken into a kind of moral custody by Briars, who 
at once began to insist on his carrying into effect the resolutions 
brought forward at their yesterday's meeting ; but Hetson was 
not to be taken a second time by surprise, and evaded the hot- 
headed young fellow's importunity by promising to call a meeting 



THE CHIL'AMEiT. 



245 



of the citizens of the p'lnted States the moment he received the 
confirmation of his dignity as alcalde from the county court. 
Until then, he reminded Briars he could not undertake anything 
decisive : but he pledged himself to consult in the meantime with 
the sheriff on the best measures to be pursued. 

Only half satisfied Vv^ith himself, and with what he had done 
that morning, he retired into his tent, where he found Jenny 
Manuela. The latter vras in tears. 

" What is the matter ? " he inquired with nervous anxiety. 
"Has any one " 

" Don't alarm yourself. Prank," interrupted his wife, with a 
smile. " It is nothing but a foolish fear of this poor child's ; she 
is afraid that her father will give himself up again to his passion 
for play, and again expose himself to the temptations from which 
we withdrew him almost by force." 

"But 1 can't imagine " 

" She met, this morning, and, moreover, quite unexpectedly, in 
front of our tent, the man who was foremost in luring her 
father to the gaming-table, and in plundering him afterwards." 

" What, here in my tent ? " 

"It seems he inquired for yon, and spoke with you here in the 
tent. I even think you went out together." 

"Siftly!" exclaimed Hetson, amazed and startled; '"why, 
it cannot be." 

"Yes, yes," asserted IMannela ; " Siftly is his name, and of all 
the bad men who have been brought to this country by their 
greediness for gold, — of all the cunning, treacherous people who 
gain their living by false trickery at cards, that Siftly is the most 
daring and the worst." 

" Ihat is impossible, child !" cried Hetson, now really alarmed. 
"Jenny, she means that countryman of mine, my early friend, 
whom we met at San Erancisco on our landing, and who helped 
lis to find a lodging." 

" Your//7>A/f//''' sighed Manuela. " That man has no friend 
but gold ; and he it is who has made me wretched, by his bad con- 
duct tovrards my father. I have implored him on my bended 

knees to leave off pursuing him, and then he " She stopped 

abruptly, and turned away with a shudder, hiding her face in her 
hands at the recollection of the villain's insulting words. 

Hetson had thrown himself on a chair, and sat looking at the 
ground, in deep thought. Several appearances he had noticed in 
Siftlv's conduct, but which had half escaped his observation, 
absorbed as he had been in his own affairs, now suddenly recurred 
to his mind. Could Manuela be right? Could Siftlj have 



246 



THE CHINAMEK. 



employed Lis influence only to make a tool of the fiiencl who 
trusted him ? He started from his chair and walked rapidly to 
and fro through the tent ; then suddenly going up to the weeping 
girl, he said kindly, — 

" Don't grieve so, Manuela ; I cannot believe that Siftly is so 
black as you paint him, and as you evidently believe him to be." 

Oh, senor," sobbed Manuela, " I trust you may never have 
experience of his wickedness ! " 

"Well, well, my dear," saidHetson, "granted that he gambles, 
or, what is worse, that he is a professed gamester, and has led 
your father astray \ I do not see why you need fear that hcAvould 
try to practise upon him again. At the first attempt of the 
kind, I would speak seriously to him, — would beg him to leave 
the weak old man alone, if not for your sake, at least for mine ; 
and I think I have influence enough with him to make him grant 
such a simple request. Are you satisfied ? " 

"I jmis^ be," answered Manuela, dolefully ; " but when my heart 
rejoiced at the first sight of these beautiful mountains, — when I 
thought myself so safe and free, I little fancied that I should so 
soon see that man's horrid face and evil eyes again. His pre- 
sence weighs upon me like the foreboding of some terrible mis- 
fortune to happen to myself or to some one I love ; I feel as if 
I should like to run to the ends of the earth, only to get out of 
his way — to be safe from hiai." 

" Did he say anything to you this morning ? " 

" Nothing — not a word ; he only bade me good day ; but his 
look, — he looked at me with those evil eyes,— and in his glance 
I read something that makes my heart stand still — that turns the 
blood in my veins to ice." 

" And what do 1/021 think of him, Erank ? " asked his wife in 
a timid voice. 

" I hardly know myself, my dear," answered Hetson, cheer- 
fully ; " but this I can tell you both, and particularly Manuela, 
that you need not be afraid of him." 

" Oh, then avoid him, dear Prank," pleaded Mrs. Hetson. 

" Manuela would not bring forward such a horrible accusation 
against him, if she were not sure of its truth ; and if you do not 
want particularly to stay here, let us go away, if only for the 
sake of the poor child and her father." 

Hetson was silent ; a strange feeling of doubt and disquietude 
came upon him, and he would gladly have acted upon his wife's 
suggestion, but for the promise he had given. His office as 
alcalde did not certainly bind him for any definite time to this 
spot ; but what would all his countrymen think of him, if now, 



THE CHINAMEN. 



247 



after the occurrences of the morning, he were suddenly to leave, 
the town? He could not go— at least, not directly. But ho 
could allege the cause JJiat kept him here, to quiet the fears of 
the women ; so, suppressing his own fears, he replied cheerfully 
enough, — 

"Don't be afraid of shadows, dear children; the affair is not so 
serious as it looks, —and though I can't fulfil your wish, Jenny, 
by at once quitting this place, I can tell you that the citizens 
have this morning given me a power by which I can secure you 
against any intrusion or persecution; — in fact, I have been 
chosen alcalde here, and have accepted the office." 

''But will not that interfere with your design?" asked his 
wife, anxiously — " your scheme of finding rest and quiet here 
among the mountains ?" 

"That it will, certainly, my dear girl; but, on the other hand, 
it will give me occupation, and, in the long run, I should have 
become heartily tired of being idle : besides, the duties of an 
alcalde here in the mines are limited to the settling of small and 
unimportant disputes among the diggers, a business a quiet, tem- 
perate man can generally manage without much difficulty. In 
any difficulty a jury is chosen ; and all the most serious cases, 
involving questions of life and death, are brought before the 
county court, aS beyond my jurisdiction." 

"Mid that Siftly?" 

" I shall keep a watchful eye upon him/' replied Hetson, after 
a little hesitation. "If he turns out to be the kind of man 
Manuela fancies him — but I still hope that anxiety for her father 
may have caused her to attach more importance to som.e points 
than they deserve, — if he really means mischief, I shall try and 
persuade him, as a friend, to give up his schemes ; and he will 
do so, for I'll let him see that he mtcst/' he added, with an 
appearance of greater decision than he had as yet displayed. 

" I feel quite afraid of him myself," observed Mrs. Hetson. 

" You've no reason to be afraid, Jenny," answered her husband, 
with a smile. " It appears that Siftlj has for a long time been 
wandering about in the western states among wild, lawless men, 
and has perhaps adopted some of their manners and habits. 
Still, I don't think him completely depraved, and I trust the 
future will show that I have not been deceived." 

The conversation was here interrupted by the arrival of the 
sheriff, who had come over to make some necessary arraogemeuts 
with the new alcalde ; and the women withdrew into their com- 
partment of the tent. 

The excitement of the former day had by this tune almost 



248 



THE cni:NAME:^T. 



entirely subsided ; and any one wlio had heard the speeches made 
against the foreigners the evening before, and now saw the 
orators working so quietly in their varipus claims with pickaxe 
and spade, would hardly have thought if possible that they were 
the same people. But gold is a powerful lever; and, quieted by 
the choice of an alcalde who would, they imagined, prevent any 
further deeds of violence, they did not wish to waste the precious 
hours of daylight in debate and agitation. 

Even Briars, the most hot-headed of all, had gone back to his 
claim, not far from where the Devil's Water entered the flat ; for 
he had dug down to the auriferous eartli on the preceding da}^ 
and was eager to see what liis hole contained, and whether it 
would p^y for llie labour he hoA bestowed upon it. 

j^.bout tv/cnty paces below him a com[)any of Chinamen were 
at work, respecting w^hom a report hiid got abroad that they had 
found much gold. Tlie people tlienisclves were taciturn, enter- 
ing into conversation with no one ; indeed, they did not under- 
stand tlie English language, nor could tliose who spoke it under- 
stand them. Only their leader, the broad-shouldered Chinaman 
already mentioned as tlie ])ropnetor of the long black pigtail, 
appeared to comprehend a few English words, wdiich lie had per- 
haps acquired in his own country from sailors in some harbour. 
It was he who made all necessary purcluises in the tents, and he 
alone canie into communication with the Americans. Whatever 
he bought he paid for at once ; and if any questions were asked 
of him, he replied by certain unintelligible guttural sounds, 
apparently very willing to give every information the Americans 
could require of him. That they could not understand him was 
of course not his fault. 

After a loDg and secret conference with Smith, Siftly had made 
an excursion through the flat, to make observations on the state 
of affairs. He had stood for some time looking into the tolerably 
deep pit in which the sons of tiie Celestial Empire were at work; 
but, as soon as he approached the margin of the hole, he was 
observed, and it did not escape his practised eye, that one of the 
workmen, a stunted, dirty-looking fellow, hid a flat vessel of 
coarse gold under his loose jacket. The ground looked as if the 
Chinamen had hit on the right vein into which the precious metal 
had been washed — Heaven knows how many thousand years ago 
• — from the mountains into the valley ; and the hurried m.anner 
in which the vessel of gold was concealed confirmed the suspicions 
of the American. 

"Making out well down there, eh?" cried Siftly, locking dow^n 
into the pit. 



THE CHINAME-Sr. 



249 



The Cliinanien looked up at liim, but not one of tliem answered 
his question. Tliey only began picking at tbe sides of the hole 
with their small knives, and seemed to have suspended their more 
serious labour until the -white man should have gone away. 

"Well — can't you open your mouths down there, you pig- 
tailed rascals V was Siftly's amiable adjuration. It was of no 
use ; the Chinamen seemed quite unconscious of his existence as 
they picked about the walls with their knives. 

" Squinting scoundrels ! " muttered Siftly, with a curse. " I 
hope to see the day when they'll make you speak, whether you 
like it or no ; " and, throwing his poncho round him, he left the 
place, to return to the town. 

A yell of rage from a neighbouring pit attracted his attention, 
and looking down he saw Briars throw down the pickaxe witb 
which he had been working, and begin cursing and dancing like 
a demoniac. 

"Hallo, friend! — are you saying your prayers down there?" 
asked Siftly, with a laugh, as he bent over the pit. 

"D — n the claim, and the place, and the flat, and all Cali- 
fornia; and strike the confounded country ten thousand fathoms 
into the earth !" yelled the man, still more enraged by Siftly's 
malicious smile. 

" Ha, ha, ha ! — that's a pious wi?h, upon my word," said 
Siftly, sententiously; "it ain't the fault of the country if you go 
and dig in the wrong place." 

"Wrong place!" screamed the man. "Tell me what's the 
right place, if you're so d — d clever. Plague on California, I 
say. Here have I been digging hole after hole in the cursed 
hard ground, each deeper than^the last, and can't screw out more 
than a miserable few dollars, vfith all the trouble I take." 

"But you don't set to work the right way." 

" Go to the devil !" grumbled the angry man, who was in no 
mood to be sociable. ""I didn't ask for your advice: when I 
want it, I'll send for you." 

"Thank you!" said Siflly, coolly, while a malicious smile 
played round the corners of his mouth ; " but perhaps you do 
want me just at present." 

"Tell ye what, now, stranger," cried the man, growing very 
angry, "'I'm not exactly in the humour for fun, and if you know 
what's good for yourself you'll be off at once ; or, if^ you want to 
stay up there, vou'll at any rate leave off bothering me with 
your talk : you've woke up the wrong passenger, 1 tell ye." ^ 

"Now don't be an^^rv, mv bov," said Siftly, laughmg.^ ihis 
was just the tcmper'in which he wanted Briars Ibr his own 



250 



THE CHINAMEK. 



purposes. " Wasn't it you that gave us such a capital speech 
last night, about the blood our forefathers spilt in defence of 
liberty?" 

«]j n you !" roared the digger, now really enraged; and 

grasping the edge of the pit with his two hands, he clambered 
out upon the flat, and the next moment he was standing oppo- 
site Siftly, his face swollen with anger, and thirsting for 
battle. 

" Confound you ! " he roared ; throw ofP that poncho of 
yours, if you're a man, and I'll teach you to interfere with \ 

people who don't want your company, or your d d insulting 

speeches !" 

"You're very kind," answered Siftly, with his boisterous 
laugh, but without making any preparation for defence ; " only 
I can't avail myself of it just now. I didn't come here to knock 
you about, or to be beaten by you, but to ofPer you my help ; 
and I think its worth something better than a black eye." 

"And pray who asked for your help ?" asked Briars, sulkily. 

"There — there — quite enough of that nonsense !" said Siftly, 
impatiently ; "we're wasting valuable time ; and I should think j 
we Americans ought to be the last to quarrel and give each ! 
other hard words just now." 

Briars looked at his interlocutor with something the expres- 
sion of a bull-dog, who is not quite sure whether to wag his tail 
or to rush at the hand that strokes and pats him. Siftly saw his 
indecision, and at once followed up the advantage it gave him 
over his surly opponent. 

" What the mi«ortief do you keep grubbing and digging here 
lur!" he cried, "where there's nothing to pay you for your 
labour, while those Chinese scoundrels are picking away the 
gold from under your very nose ? " 

"Isn't that just what I kept saying?" retorted the digger; 
" and wasn't it you who persuaded them to go and choose an 
alcalde ? I suppose you wanted to break up what strength we 
had." 

"You're wrong, friend," answered the gambler; "I did it to 
keep our strength together. Hetson is exactly the kind of man 
we want ; he won't put anything in the way, where American 
interests are concerned. What my ideas are on the subject, I'll 
soon show you. How far have the strangers a right to dig out 
their claims ?" 

" No right at all, according to my opinion," said Briars ; and 
he enforced his opinion with a curse. " They wouldn't dig out 
one hand-breadth of earth if I had my way." 



THE CHINAMEIJ'. 



251 



" Yes, tes ; but as the law now stands here in the mines, 
there are some regulations or other about the length of a 
claim." 

"They generally allow twelve feet for each man." 

" Yerygood. Now the Chinese yonder are working in two 
parties. If they really form two divisions, they have a sort of 
right to spread themselves out as they do. But the chaps look 
as much alike as so many peas in a trencher ; and how are they 
to prove it 

"They'll get precious little out of their claims, I reckon," 
growled Briars. 

"D'ye think so?^ Then you're wrong; for Tve seen them 
with my own eyes, pickin^j the gold cut in good-sized lumps ; 
and easily enough too, ior they're only working with their 
knives." 

"It's a rascally shame ! " yelled Briars, stamping with rage ; 
" and we're to stand that." 

"Who says w^'re to stand it?" said Siftly. "If you're 
agreeable, we'll go over to the Chinamen ; and if we like the 
look of their claim, who's to prevent our working it for our- 
selves ? Not those bald-pated cowardly devils, I fancy." 

" Eh ! What ! How many are there of them ? " asked 
Briars, looking up with a gleam of intelligence in his surly 
face. 

"No matter if there are a dozen of them," was the con- 
temptuous answer. " I tell you they're a cowardly lot ; and two 
fellows like us can fight them, six to one any day — if we'd rather 
have the gold in our bags than in theirs." 

"And how about the new alcalde ?" 

" He's not confirmed yet by the county court ; but even if 
he were, I'll take upon myself to answer for what we do, so far 
as laws go here in the mines." 

" Then I'm your man ! " shouted Briars, holding out his huge 
paw ; " and as to the fighting, ITl undertake to settle six of 
them, if you'll take the rest for your share." 

" And have you found nothing at all in your claim ? " 

" Not a trace of a grain of gold — hang it, not so much as 
would buy a glass of brandy; and Iv'e been working hke a 
horse for the last three days, sinking this infernal hole." 

" Well, you've sown here, and shall reap yonder," answered 
Siftly, with a laugh; "for they've saved up the trouble of dig- 
ging, at any rate. And now let us be moving, or some one else 
may take away our chance." 

Briars was ready enough to go ; and with a malicious chuckle, 



252 



THE CHIHAME^. 



Siftly led off his new ally towards the Chinamen's claim. He 
was glad to have gained this boisterous yonng fellow ; for in 
genera] the Americans were not very well inclined towards the 
professional gamblers. But with Briars, the most violent and 
hot-headed of the whole party on his side, he had no fear of 
opposition from the rest ; and he knew, moreover, that to make 
the first attack on the foreign interlopers, would gain him a 
certain respect among all the unquiet spirits in the place. If 
the movement should result, as he hoped it would, in the expul- 
sion of the Mexicans and the foreigners generally (bad customers 
at the play-table) from the mines, their claim.s would be seized 
upon by the American victors, who would be certain to bring a 
good proportion of their gains to the gambling-tables, at Ken- 
ton's and else\vhere. 

Briars had not any definite plan to follow ; but in his anger 
and excitement at his own failure as a digger, he thought him- 
self perfectly in the right in what he was going to do. The 
Americans, be considered, were the undoubted lords of the 
Californian soil. They had conquered it from the Mexicans by 
force of arms. All foreigners were intruders ; and to hinder 
them in their nefarious doings, he considered the duty of every 
citizen who had his own interest, and that of the glorious 
E.epublic, of course, at heart. 

The unconscious Chinamen had meanwhile been working away 
in their hole, without apparently wasting another thought on the 
American who had disturbed them. They were used to visits 
of the kind, particularly since the report of their success had 
gained ground; and they had found it the best policy to main- 
tain an aspect of stolid indifference. 

The chief and head man of the little party, who seldom took 
part in the more laborious employment of digging, but contented 
himself with the lighter duty of rocking the cradle, had left his 
work when Siftly turned away, and gone into the second pit, 
about thirty paces off, where the other division of his country- 
men were at work. With the caution of a true Chinaman, he 
had taken with him the produce of that morning's industry. His 
companions meanwhile continu.ed to dig and pick away diligently; 
for Siftly was right, the hole had turned out a success, and 
they wanted to reap the result of their labours as quickly as 
possible. 

Thus they were in full work, when the two Americans came 
back. At the first glance he gave into the pit. Briars cried 
out, — 

"Cursed if it ain't true. The pigtailed devils are furraging 



THE chini:men. 



253 



about among the gold ; while we, to whom the country belongs, 
are wearing our hearts out for a dollar a day. Get out of that 
hole, or Til be hanged if I don't start ye in quick time." 

The five sons of the Celestial Empire looked up in frightened 
surprise, on hearing the rough voice ; but they made no reply, by 
word or sign, but, hiding the gold they had found, proceeded 
doggedly with their work. 

That's not the way to do it," observed Siftly ; "I tried that 
with them before. We might talk to 'em for an hour before we 
got ^a syllable out of them. I'll show you a better plan and 
seizing a lump of clay from a heap by the margin of the claim, 
he threw it with a thump on a Chinaman's back, aud cried, — 

" Get ou.t of there — out ! D'ye understand, or shall I make it 
plainer for you?" 

The Chinaman thus unexpectedly assaulted, sprang up with a 
loud yell, and gave expression to his feelings in a torrent of 
Chinese, in which his companions joined. They really did not 
understand what was required of them, and of course made no 
preparation to comply. 

"Hang the fellows!" exclaimed the energetic Mr. Briars; 
^' I'll stir 'em up a bit, and then they'll understand fast enough 
what we want;" and, without caring for the number of the 
enemy, or even waiting for Siftly's reply, he put his hand on the 
margin of the pit, v/hich was at least tvvclve feet deep, and about 
as broad, and leaped down into the midst of the astonished 
occupants, scattering them right and left. 

With much threatening gesticulation he seized two of the - 
Celestials by the collar of their jackets, and began pushing 
them towards a corner of the pit against which a pine-stem had 
been placed as a ladder for ingress and egress, when suddenly the 
chief of the party appeared on the margin. He saw at once 
what was intended by the invaders, and, turning angrily to Siftly, 
cried out, in broken English, to know what they wanted. 

"What we want, my lad?" repeated Siftly, with a jeering 
laugh; "I'll let you know in a minute. This place is ours, 
you've no right to work here ; so make tracks ; — be off, and at 
once, too, or it will be the worse for you." 

" This place mine," persisted the Chinaman, in guttural tones. 
" 1 pay one, two dollar — alcalde. I number " 

" Nonsense — shut up — be off — allotis — vamos blusi crod 
Siftly. "D'ye understand?" And he took him by the collar, 
turned him completely round, and was going to push him away, 
when the Chinese, who was a powerful fellow, and, as it af)pcaiTd, 
a braver m,an than his companions, suddenly seized the American 



254 



THE CHINAMEN. 



by the arm, and thrust him away with such violence, that he 
staggered two or three steps backwards. The ground happened 
to be uneven, from the heaps of earth the diggers had thrown 
out ; so that Siftly failed to recover his balance, and tumbled 
head over heels into a neighbouring hole about eight feet deep. 

Without stopping to take any further notice of his fallen 
enemy, the plucky Chinaman ran at once to the edge of his own 
hole, and called down to Briars, — 

''You there — yon 'Merican, out of there — out — you no business 
— mine ! 

" Why, you infernal bald-pated rascal," roared Briars, "it's 
lucky for you I'm not 'out/ If I come up, I'll smash your 
skull till it's as soft as your brains. Here, Siftly — hollo, Siftly, 
where the devil have you got to ? — ^just give that fellow with the 
Ioug: tail a " 

He had not time to finish his speech ; for, foaming with rage 
at receiving such an unexpected check from a despised Chnia- 
man, covered with dust and dirt from his fall into the pit, with 
his hat off and his hair flying loose, and his face so contorted 
with passion as to be scarcely human, Siftly leaped out of the 
pit, and threw himself at once upon his foe. 

Directly the man saw his maddened foe, he felt that he was no 
match for Siftly in strength or courage ; nevertheless he stood 
up firmly enough to receive him, and only uttered a peculiar 
shrill cry. 

Though Briars had as yet been unable, with all his pushing 
and cuffing, to clear the pit of the Chinamen, the cry uttered by 
their leader had that effect, and instantaneously. Leaving the 
American master of the field, or rather the hole, they began 
clambering like cats up their pine-tree, but the first who emerged 
from the hole was just in time to see Siftly, by a well-directed 
blow, stretch their countryman at his feet. His follower, who 
ran to his assistance, shared the*same fate ; and as Briars also 
came climbing up to help his friend, and other Americans, alarmed 
by the noise, came running to the scene of conflict, the poor 
Chinamen gave up the battle as lost, and scattered off in different 
dii'ections, like so many partridges. 

Siftly, still foaming with rage at his downfall, threw himself 
upon his stunned and prostrate foe, and winding the Chinaman's 
long pigtail round his left hand, roared out to Briars, whose 
head now emerged from the pit, for a stick. 

" A stick ! " answered Briars, who could not help laughing at 
his companion's rage and the Chinaman's discomfiture. " You 
may look long enough, here among the hills, before you see a 



THE CHINAMEN. 



255 



good hickory like we use in tlie States. Give him half a dozen 
with his own pigtail ; that won't do him much harm;' 

"You're right, — and he shall have it, d— n him/' rephed the 
American, drawing his knife from its sheath." 

" Siftty— no knives— you wouldn't murder him," cried Briars, 
startled by the expression of the gambler's face. 

" Don't be alarmed," answered Siftly ; " I'm only going to cut 
a stick for him ;" and with his sharp knife he severed the pigtail, 
the pride and glory of the Chinaman, from the poor fellow's head, 
and taking it in his right hand, began belabouring him most un- 
mercifully with the thick plaited end. 

A crowd of Americans, and a few Erenchmen, had gathered 
round them; but it was sometime before Siftly could be pre- 
vailed upon to let his victim go. Throwing the pigtail upon him, 
at last, he told the bystanders that the bald-pated rascal had 
seized him unawares, and thrown him into the mud-hole yonder, 
and swore with many frightful oaths that he would send a bullet 
through the brain of the next Chinaman who meddled with him ; 
in conclusion, he stepped down with Briars into the conquered 
pit, to make the most of their prize while they could. 

The other diggers did not interfere ; they considered it as a 
personal quarrel betvv een Siftly and the Chinaman, and as soon as 
they had convinced themselves that the latter was not dead, but 
only stunned — the second had already gathered himself up, and 
made the best of his way off, — they turned and went away, some 
of them even laughing, and all perfectly indifferent. 

A few Erenchmen, however, remained by the poor ill-used 
fellow, and by pouring water on his face, restored him to bis 
senses. They soon saw that he had not received any very serious 
injury. They could not help laughing at the severed pigtail ; 
and when its owner sat up and began to stare wildly round him, 
they left him and returned to their work. Certainly they could 
not have understood him if they remained, and time was money 
in California. 

Eor some time the poor Chinaman sat half-stunned, but directly 
he came to himself, his first care was for his cherished pigtail. 
He put his hand mechanically behind him, and for the first time 
became conscious of the loss he had sustained. 

His rage was painful, and yet ludicrous, to behold. With a 
yell of anger he ran to the hole in which the tv/o Americans Avere 
by that time hard at work; and with staring eyes and waving 
arms, he hurled a torrent of Chinese upon the heads of his 
oppressors. 

They could not understand what he said, but the gestures and 



25G 



DON ALOXZO. 



excitement of tlie poor ^Y^etc]l^ as he stood literally foaming at 
the mouth, shoTred that he was calling down anything but 
blessings upon them. At last Siftly brought out his revolver, 
and pointing it at the plundered and ill-used man, declared that he 
would " let day -light into him if he did not go that instant. 

Though the threat was evidently made in earnest, the China- 
man remained a full minute, with the deadly weapon pointed at 
him, before he showed any intention of going. At length he 
turned slowly away, took up the pigtail from the ground, and 
tied it round his waist; then he looked round for his companions, 
and seeing them all clustered round the spot where they had 
begun to work their second claim, he moved off towards them. 
After a short consultation, they all went together to the entrance 
of the valley, where they had set up theii' tents. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DON ALONZO. 

The Chinese had certainly withdrawn without hazarding an 
attack, thus by their retreat abandoning their rightful property 
to the spoilers. But near them some Mexicans were at work, 
and among these the report soon spread that the Americans had 
begun to make war upon all strangers, and that they had sworn 
to drive every one of them out of the flat. 

It happened just at this moment that the long-threatened 
American collector, who was to raise the tax among the 
strangers, arrived in the town. One of the Mexicans, who had 
been back to the town that morning to get a new crowbar, 
brought back the news to his friends. 

About half an hour later, the whole body of Mexicans left their 
work, and assembled in their encampment in the eastern flat near 
the mountains. Presently, mounted messengers were seen riding 
off in various directions into the mountains; but, beyond this, no 
demonstration was made. 

The Erenchmen, too, disquieted by the arrival of the collector, 
had been assembling. Till now they had considered the threat- 
ened tax merely as a false alarm, as week after week went by 



DON ALONZO. 



257 



and no collector appeared ; and in tlie interim many resolutions 
had been made not to submit, under any circumstances, to this 
enormous impost. But, now that the collector really came 
most of the grumblers thought it advisable to consider once more 
before they acted in opposition to the American authorities, 
though the most hot-headed protested loudly against anything 
like submission. ° 

Meantime Hetson, the new alcalde, had heard nothing of all 
this; he had business enough in his tent to keep him "a close 
prisoner the whole afternoon. 

Por, before the collector could begin operations in the mines, 
he had to settle many preliminaries, for which he required the 
alcalde's advice and assistance. The new law and the new lists 
were to be gone through ; certificates were to be filled up ; and 
beyond this there were several local difficulties in the collection 
of the tax which the lawgivers in San Francisco had never thought 
of, but which were here severely felt. 

The collector declared himself ready to look after the payment 
of the tax ; but as, in the wide district through which his duties 
extended, he would have to visit the separate mountain streams 
to catalogue and tax the strangers in each place, the task of 
keeping the foreigners in the little town in order was to fall 
principally on the alcalde and sheriff. 

It seemed, moreover, to Hetson as if the collector — a sharp- 
looking Yankee from Connecticut — were trying to shift as much 
trouble as he could from his own shoulders ; and, with a happy 
coolness which he called " confidence in Mr. Hetson," he had 
already arranged a plan of action for the Paradise, by which the 
sheriff became the real collector, while he himself only super- 
intended and controlled his actions. 

He had, however, mistaken the people with whom he had to 
deal ; and Hetson, when he saw that the collector was acting 
only on what he called his verbal instructions from San Francisco, 
cut the matter short by summoningHale himself to speak with him. 

The sheriff had just come in from a tour through the flat, and 
looked heated and excited when he entered the tent. 

" Mr. Hale," said Hetson, addressing him, " here is Mr. Slocum, 
the new collector, who seems inclined that you shall have the 
honour of raising the monthly tax of twenty dollars, which 
all " 

"Hanged if I do it," interrupted the sheriff, bluntly. "If 
they'd made me collector, and I'd accepted the place, of course I 
should have had no objection; but, as the affair stands at present, 
I'd rather not." 

s 



258 



BON ALONZO. 



"Why, you see, sheriff," said the collector, shrugging his 
shoulders, "it will be of no use to object. The law has been 
passed, you see, and we must " 

" The law has been passed that the collectors are to get in the 
money wherever they can make the people pay. I guess you've 
made your bed, and you'll have to lie on it. Just look out at 
the door, and see how things look in the fiat. It's all very well 
for the gentlemen at San Francisco to sit down at a table 
and write down all sorts of things on paper-— paper is patient 
stuff, — but then, let them come up and see how it works up 
here." 

*'Has anything happened, Mr. Hale cried Hetson, v/ho had 
noticed the excitement of the usually stolid sheriff. 

" Happened ! " repeated Hale ; " the whole place is in an 
uproar, and, worse than that, we shall probably have reinforce- 
ments coming in from the mountains." 

" But what has happened?" asked the alcalde and collector in 
one breath. 

" A foolish affair, of course," answered Hale, sulkily. " That 
friend of yours, Mr. Hetson — that Mr. Siftly, with his black 
beard and his fine Californian poncho, has been driving a party 
of those poor Chinese devils, who never do any one harm, out of 
their claim, and has ill-used one of them into the bargain ; and a 
few of our rough, rattle-pated fellows, who were only waiting for 
some such beginning, are taking possession of places where Mex- 
icans have been at work. They're throwing out the tools left 
there as marks by the owners, work the claims for themselves, 
and declare that they will send a bullet through the head of any 
foreigner who dares to hinder them." 

Hetson bit his lips with vexation. 

"Did you say that Siftly began all this ?" he asked. 

" He and that hot-headed Briars. The strangers are alarmed 
—as well they may be — at these sweeping measures, and are 
caballing together in their turn. The Erenchmen have called a 
great meeting in one of their tents, and are gathering together 
all the muskets they can lay their hands on, and the Mexicans 
have gone back to their own quarters. But that's not the worst. 
They've sent messengers off into the mountains, and the Indians, 
■who haven't shown their faces among us since that Mr. Smith 
killed the poor devil, and the chief could get no redress, are 
gathering on the hill yonder, about three hundred of them ; and 
there's not a single woman with them,— a sure sign that they've 
not assembled for any peaceable purpose. Besides, they've 
made common cause with the Mexicans ; and if they all attack 



BON ALONZO. 



259 



us in a body, we shall have a fine piece oi work— all tlirou^-h a 
few rascally gamblers." ° 

How many Americans are there in the town here ? " asked 
the alcalde, after a short silence. 

" Certainly not more than twenty upon whom we can relv" 
answered the sheriff; " and there are perhaps a hundred Erench- 
men and two hundred I\Iexicans, besides the Germans/' 

" And do you think the Germans would take part with the 
rest against us ? " 

" No/' said Hale ; a few of them would join our side. I'm 
sure of some, at any rate." 

Mr. Slocum, who had listened to this startling news with 
fixed attention, became very pale in the face, and said, 
hurriedly, — 

"Under these circumstances, and if the place is in a state of 
revolt, I shall certainly not be able to discharge my office bere ; 
so I'd better go back at once to Golden Bottom, to make my 
report and ask for assistance." 

The sheriff^ looked at him with a smile of contempt, but made 
no reply, while Hetson answered, I hope you will do nothing 
of the kind. As a government officer of the United States, sent 
here from San Erancisco, it is your duty to hold out till you 
see what turn affairs take — and until you see if ice cannot keep 
order here without assistance." 

But if two hundred Mexicans and three hundred Indians " 

"Nobody has refused to pay the tax as yet," interrupted 
Hetson, in a decided tone, " for you have not yet asked any one 
to pay it. If you were to make a complaint on the subject, it 
would be a most foolish proceeding, and might have the most 
disastrous effects. I do not think this heavy tax a good measure, 
and so far as my short experience has taught m^e, I believe the 
gentlemen at San Erancisco have framed it more according to 
the exaggerated accounts given by the dealers than in pro- 
portion to the earnings of the diggers. Still, the law has been 
passed, and must be enforced by all Americans until it can be 
modified. But we will not, at the very beginning do more tlian 
enforce it, as we should do if we excited and enraged the 
strangers unnecessarily," 

" tVell spoken," cried the sheriff, with an approving nod ; 
" that's my own opinion to a hair. I think with you, that tlicro's 
no such great danger, so long as we can keep our owm restless 
scamps in check. But if they go on as they're doing now- 
quarrelling with all the rest, and injuring them, one can't be sur- 
prised if the strangers do make a stand at last." 



260 



DON ALONZO. 



"But under these circumstances I certainly can't collect any 
taxes/' persisted Mr. Slocum, still alarmed ; " I should expose 
myself to very great inconvenience." 

" Of course you will not begin collecting to-day," answered 
Hetson. " Moreover, you have not yet completed your pre- 
liminaries. Go on quietly with your work for to-day and to- 
morrow; by that thnc the excitement will have abated of itself. 
Then, if we speak quietly and sensibly to the people, I don't 
think you'll have any dilliculty in doing your duty." 

" Except that they'll run away from him," observed the sheriff, 
laughing. " All who find the tax too high, need only to betake 
themselves to the mountains, and then see if you'll find them 
out ; or if you do find them, you can't keep them. At any rate, 
I know that our quiet life in the mines is all over now ; and I 
wish the tax at Jericho. Pity you've brought your wife up 
here, Mr. Hetson. The women must have heard all we've been 
saying." 

jNo," answered Hetson, "the two ladies have gone out for 
a stroll through the town, and for the ])resent they shall not 
knoAV anything — in fact, until we can't keep it secret any longer. 
What need to make them anxious before their time ? I hope the 
whole thing is only a demonstration, from which no bad cfl'ects 
will follow. But now, Mr. Hale, I must beg you to make 
further inquiries — especially respecting this afi'air with the 
Chinese. You are a quiet, sensible man, and I know I can 
depend on you." 

" I think, Mr. Hetson, your friend has done us rather a bad 
turn." 

"And perhaps he has done himself no good," said Hetson, 
gravely. " If the Chinese are in the right, let them apply to 
me, and I will see that they have justice." 

Hale looked wonderingly at the alcalde, to see if he really 
spoke in earnest ; but Hetson had turned away, and w^as bending 
over the papers. Just as the sheriff was leaving the tent, he 
looked up again. 

" By the way, Mr. Hale," he asked, have you seen anything 
of my tent-fellow — the Spaniard, Bonez, or Don Alouzo, as they 
call him ? I trust he has not gone to join the Mexicans." 

" Not he," answered Hale, laughing ; " he's a strange, quiet 
bird — as they most of them are if yen let them alone, — and was 
at work all day yesterday in the gulch up there, all by himself. 
Whether he'll find anything, I can't tell, but the place looks 
likely enough." 

" If you should happen to go by there again, please tell him 



DON ALONZO. 



261 



not to stay out too long this evening. I want to speak to 
him." 

The sheriff nodded, and left the collector and the alcalde to 
finish their business together. 

Hale had not made at all an exaggerated report to the alcalde. 
As regarded the Indians, too, their appearance did not seem to 
be casual ; for they had left all the women and children behind, 
so as not to be encumbered in a rapid retreat ; and not only were 
they armed, but most of them were painted, and adorned with 
eagles' feathers — a sure proof that their intentions were warlike. 
Nevertheless, Hale, who knew some of them personally, went 
among them quite alone, and armed only with his revolver, with- 
out being in any way molested. Still every man held his bow 
and arrows ready for instant use ; and not one of them would 
answer his questions. 

Kesos, the chief, was nowhere to be seen. The Indians were 
encamped on the long ridge of hill skirting the valley on the 
north, in troops of forty or fifty, by the several little mountain 
streams. They sent out many messengers to the Mexicans, with 
whom they kept up a continual communication. When Hale 
wanted to go to the camp of the Mexicans, to see what they 
were about, he was warned off by some of their people posted as 
scouts. They were not exactly unfriendly, but told him he had 
no business in their quarters, and advised him to " go back the 
way he came.'' They had nearly all left off working, and the 
few who still plied the pickaxe and spade seemed only to wish 
to exhaust their claims '' as quickly as they could, assisted 
by comrades who had not before dug in company with them. 

Experienced as he was in the ways of the natives. Hale saw at 
once that something unusual was going on. ^ The attitude of the 
strangers towards "the Americans was decidedly hostile ; and a 
very small spark would be sufficient to set these combustible 
elements in a blaze. 

The more Hale heard, after he left the the alcalde's tent, about 
the attack made by Siftly and Briars on the Chinese, the more 
he felt convinced that these two lawless men were the prime 
movers of the whole disturbance. Happening just at the time 
of the collector's arrival, the outrage had excited great indigna- 
tion among the strangers who did not understand English. They 
could not tell how far these lawless proceedings were to be carried 
on against them, if they were to be taxed on the one hand, and 
on the other to be driven from the claims which were their 
rightful property, before the tax had even been demanded trom 
them. 



262 



DON AlONZO. 



Still the mischief was not irreparable; for Hale knew very well 
that the niajority^ of the Americans were on the side of law and 
order, and the minority would have to submit, whether they liked 
it or not. Above all things he wished to find out the Chinese ; 
for he was determined to put them in possession of their property. 
But their camp was broken up : some Americans at work in the 
neighbourhood had seen them moving downwards along the 
bank of the stream, and he could obtain no further information. 
No doubt they had gone away into the mountains ; and to follow 
them would be a hopeless task. 

So the evening came on without any change in the attitude 
of the various parties. The Americans who had driven away 
strangers from their claims during the day were in high feather, 
for they had made rich booty with little trouble. 

An hour before dark Siftly and Briars had finished their work 
in the Chinaman's claim: Siftly packed up his portion of the gold, 
and revolved plans for increasing it ; while Briars, with all the 
coarse sensuality of the class to which he belonged, went straight 
to the next driuking-tent, to get rid of his money as quickly as 
he had earned it, in the company of congenial spirits. Such an 
opportunity for enticing the half-drunken revellers to gamble did 
not occur every day, and Smith and Siftly, well acquainted with 
all the details of their profession, hastened to strike while the 
iron of dissipation was hot. 

Thus the sun had scarcely disappeared behind the branches of the 
cedar-woods before the tables were brought out, and piles pf gold 
displayed to excite the cupidity of the gamblers; and ready enough 
were the turbulent frequenters to try their luck, let it go which 
way it would, now they had, through their American citizenship, 
a short road open to fortune. It was only to let the strangers 
dig down to the gold, and then to drive them out of their pits 
and reap the harvest. It was a glorious idea of liberty, and bade 
fair to elaborate itself into an organized system of robbery and 
murder. 

Hale, who looked in for a time at the different tents, heard 
many lawless propositions openly discussed ; and, angry at this, 
as well as alarmed at the attitude of the Mexicans, he hastened 
back to the alcfdde, to request him to convene a meeting of the 
American citizens. 

" And why convene a meeting, Mr. Hale ? asked Hetson, 
quietly. 

"Why?'' exclaimed Hale, in astonishment. "Confound it, 
I think there's reason enough. It is quite necessary that we 
should show these rascally gamblers we're not going to support 



DON ALONZO. 



263 



them in their plunderings ; and it will do the senors a-ood to 
learn that we^re not afraid of them." 

"I think jnst the contrary, Mr. Hale/' answered the alcalde. 
"The Mexicans would begin to think that we are alarmed at 
their assembling. The only way to astonish them is by taking 
no notice at all of their doings ; and though I disapprove of 
gambling, I am not quite sorry that our people are amusing 
themselves in that way this evening. You don't think it likely 
that the Indians will hazard a night attack ? " 

" Not the least fear of it," grumbled Hale. " So long as the 
Mexicans don't begin, the Indians won't lift a hand ; for they 
know very well they can't depend npon their American friends. 
"We needn't fear an attack, unless the Mexicans make the first 
move ; but if they should break out, I fancy the Indians would 
be down npon ns like locusts, though they're qniet enough now. 
At any rate, it's as well to be prepared. Besides, ought we to 
let the gamblers do whatever they like ? Do yon intend to 
allow that man Siftly to go marching about the flat in that 
poncho of his, turning out the proprietor from this claim and 
that claim wherever the fancy takes him ?" 

" No," replied Hetson, decidedly ; " do you bring me only 
one man who will make an accusation against him, and leave 
the rest to me; but I can't act upon bare report. \i the 
aggrieved persons choose to take it quietly without making any 
kind of complaint — if they choose to abandon the field to their 
persecutors, I can't even undertake to say that they are not 
consenting parties. By the way, have you not found Don Alonzo 
yet?" 

" No," answered Hale, curtly. 
" I hope he's not in any of the gambling-tents !" 
" Yery likely he is," answered Hale, in a tone of indifPerence. 
So you'll allow the Mexicans to go on till it's too late to do 
anything?" 

"Not till it's too late, but till it's time to do soraethmg, 
Mr. Hale. I do not consider it advisable to make the strangers 
angry for nothing." 

"Eor nothing ? Deuce take it all, do you call that nothing, 
sir, when four times our own number are encamped around us, 
with arms in their hands ? That they can't drive the Americans 
away from the mines, I know well enough ; for if they were to 
kill us, our countrymen would come rushing from all F^'ts to 
avenge our deaths, and not one of them would leave the llat 
alive. But what use would that be to us ? I'm certainly not a 
timid man, as any one who knows me will tell you ; but I m not 



264 



DON ALONZO. 



blind to danger either. If it is left till too late, the responsi- 
bility rests with no one but you." 

" I'll take the responsibility/' answered Hetson with a quiet 
smile. "But you would really do me a favour, if you could 
bring Don Ronez to me. His daughter 's very anxious about 
him." 

"Yery sorry for his daughter/' grumbled Hale, who was 
thinking of other things than the well-being of an old Spaniard. 
" If I meet him, I'll send him to you and without waitiog for 
an answer, he left the tent abruptly. 

"So he doesn't think it advisable to make the foreigners 
angry for nothing/' he muttered, as he went discontentedly 
along the street. "He's a coward, that's my opinion. Devil 
take the quill-drivers — their hearts all seem in their shoes. 
They're all ahke. I suppose their courage all slips out, from 
their sitting so long at those desks of theirs. We might 
just as well have kept our old Major, for anything I can 
see." 

He was so angry that he at first intended to go into his own 
tent, and let things take their course ; but he found no rest 
anywhere ; and for a full hour he wandered about through the 
little tent-town, and at last went out towards the mountains, 
towards the Indian camp. He could plainly see the hght of 
their fires ; and soon afterwards he passed the gathering-place 
of the Mexicans. Here all was quiet ; but two horsemen 
arrived just as he came in sight, and a minute or two afterwards 
a third rode ofP into the hills. This was unusual, for the 
Mexicans very seldom quitted their tents after nightfall. Hale 
felt anxious and dispirited, he scarcely knew why. It was past 
midnight when he returned to the town, and threw himself on 
his mattress, fairly tired out. 

Wild and riotous festivity was meanwhile going on in Kenton's 
tent, where Briars, his brain heated by brandy, swore that he 
would kill a couple of Mexicans before he went to bed. Siftly, 
on the contrary, quiet and sardonic as ever, soon drew bim to 
his tEible, from which Briars did not depart till his last dollar 
had gone to increase the shining heap which constituted the 
experienced gambler's bank. Then he staggered away, cursing 
and swearing, to sleep off the fumes of his drunkenness on the 
floor in a corner of the tent. 

Smith and Siftly had kept their bank by turns with equal 
success ; and the partner who was off duty for the time being 
would join one group of noisy revellers after another to obtain 
custom. 



DON ALONZO. 



265 



Siftly had just risen from the table to go and procure a glass 
of brandy-and-water, when he descried his old acquaintance, 
Don Alonzo, standing by another table. The Spaniard was not 
actually playing. He was looking at the cards as they fell ; but 
his eyes gleamed with the gambler's wild, terrible excitement, 
and his hand fumbled mechanically in the bag containing only a 
little gold, which he carried in his pocket. 

How hardly he had earned those few bright lumps of earth ! 
how he had toiled and dug, and picked and scraped till he wrung 
from the stubborn soil that one ounce which was all he could 
call his own in the world ! How many resolutions he had made 
to lay by dollar by dollar, until he could restore his poor child 
to the position she was entitled to occupy ; but no sooner did 
he see the heaps of shining metal on the table — no sooner did 
he find himself in possession of ever so small a sum to stake, 
than the old unhappy mania came upon him again, and the 
demon whispered him, as of old, to "try his fortune." It should 
be the last time, said the deluded man, as he had often declared 
before — as he had sworn in moments of remorse, and broken his 
oath again and again ; if he failed this time, he would never 
touch another card. But he could not fail ; even in his dreams 
he had seen the cards on which he ought to stake to compel 
fortune to be favourable ; and already his trembling hands had 
grasped the gold which he intended should be his diviniug-rod, 
and find a treasure for him. 

" Hallo, corapafiero ! we've not met for a loug time ; glad 
to see you again !" cried Siftly, laying his hand lightly on the 
Spaniard's shoulder. 

Don Alonzo started at the address and the touch, as if a 
serpent had crawled over him. If there was a man on the earth 
whom he utterly detested and abhorred, it was Siftly, who had 
goaded him on to play again and again, and had each time plun- 
dered him of his last cent. And still he had never had the strength 
•"to avoid this man ; an unseen power seemed ever drawing him 
into the grasp of the American ; and a feeling that he must 
take revenge for the losses he had suffered only strengthened 
the charm. Each new defeat increased the hatred he felt to^yards 
his adversary, while it bound the two closer together; the victim 
came again to be plundered, and the robber was ever ready to 
plunder him anew. Manuela had knelt at her father's feet, and 
begged him with tears to avoid only this man— this one above 
all others ; and he had promised to avoid him ; but as he de- 
ceived himself, so he deceived his daughter also; and no niotii 
fluttering round a candle seemed less able to resist the impulse 



266 



"DON ALONZO. 



that drew it into the iiame than Tvas Don Eonez to fly from 
the play-table. 

Thus it happened on this evening also. He had seen the 
American at his table ; but, mindful of his promise to his 
daughter, he had turned away. But now, when the man came 
to his side and accosted him, the old mixed feeling of desire and 
hate shot through his heart, and drove him forward. It seemed 
to him the very turning-point of his fortune, when that hateful 
American again stood before him with his false smile ; he felt as 
if a revenging Nemesis had placed a weapon in his hand, and 
this time he must be victor. 

" It may be, senor," he replied to Siftly's repeated assurance 
that he v/as glad to see him. " But only one of us has cause to 
be glad." 

" Then it's you," cried Siftly with a laugh ; " for I've had a 
stupid dream last light, and had, in fact, resolved not to tempt 
fortune at all to-day. But I owe you a revenge, senor, and am 
ready at any moment to give it you, provided always that your 
funds are not quite at low-water mark." 

These last words were said in a sarcastic tone, which sent the 
old Spaniard's blood rushing to his heart; and no further 
persuasion was required to make him go where Siftly wanted to 
lead him. 

Don Alonzo at iirst staked very small sums on a card, and won 
each time ; he doubled his stake, and won again. He pocketed 
his winnings carefully, set a small stake, and won. Tired by his 
good fortune, he set all his money, winnings and capital, at once, 
and lost. At once the few dollars he called his own went into 
the hands of the banquier, who looked up at him in expectation 
of his next stake. 

Well, senor ? You should not have deserted the ten which 
nad been so faithful to you ; and look ! — since you left ofP it has 
won twice again. Try it once more. Come, how much on the 
ten?" 

"I have no more gold," muttered the Spaniard, almost 
inaudibly ; at least, none with me." 

''No more gold!" cried Siftly, laughing. " Why, bless me, 
senor, you can scarcely have lost half an ounce ; and surely that 
was not the whole capital with which you intended to break my 
bank ? Come — it's quite against my rule ; but I'll make an 
exception in your case, and give you credit for six ounces. Does 
that suit you?" 

" I shall play no more," said Don Alonzo, gloomily ; and he 
turned to leave the table. 



DON ALONZO. 



2G7 



" Stop ! " cried Siftly, who had another plan in Ms head, and 
, did not wish to let the old man off so easily. " If you won't let 
I me lend yon any money, senor, Pll stake a ponnd of gold against 
' a treasure you possess." ° 

" A treasure ! — I ?" said the old man, with a mournful shake 
of the head. " I have nothing to put against such a stake— a 
pound of gold !" 

"Two hundred Spanish dollars, if you like that better — or 
three hundred — against your daughter's violin-playing." 

The old man bit his lip, and was silent for a moment. Then 
he said, in a decided tone, " My daughter shall play no more." 

" Nonsense, man ! Why hide a talent in a napkin, when it 
would be a source of happiness to the audience, and of gain to 
yourselves. Now, only listen to me. Up here in the mountains 
we want one thing, namely, music. The gold rolls, and the 
glasses clink, and the cards fall gloomily. There would be quite 
a new life in this nest of tents, if a certain young lady would but 
let her violin be heard. Now, I'll set three hundred dollars 
against a contract that she's to play, for four weeks, two hours 
every evening here in this tent ; and I'll pay a salary of four 
dollars a night into the bai'gain." 

Three hundred dollars ! — the sum would be enough to carry 
them both away from California; and how long and wearily 
would he have to toil before he could gain such a sum by his 
pickaxe, crowbar, and spade ? It was a tempting offer. 

" Two hours every evening," repeated the Spaniard, in a state 
of painful indecision. 

" Only two hours, and not even that short time all at once. 
She might divide it according to her own inclination ; and all 
staked on one card, senor. Why, it may turn up against me, and 
you will have the three hundred in your pocket at a sweep; and 
I should have to stake the same sum for a second chance." 

Honez stood, pale as death, with his hand twitching uneasily 
at his cloak ; while many of the guests came crowding round to 
see the end of this curious wager. 

"Be it so," he whispered at last ; "ITl take your offer : three 
hundred dollars against the time stipulated." 

" That's capital. What card will you have ? There's the ten 
—a very fortunate number.'^ 

" I'll keep it.'^ . . 

The cards began to turn. No one else staked this tipne, tor 
all were looking with great interest on the cards as they Icli. 

" The ten ! '' was shouted at last, by six or eight voices at 
once. 



268 



DON ALONZO. 



"For me ! " said Siftly, with mock commiseration in Ms 
voice. 

The Spaniard made no reply. He had pressed his hand upon his 
heart, and only kept it there with a look of stony despair. A 
light hand touched his shoulder ; and, turning, he saw the pale 
quiet face of Hetson looking fixedly at him. 

"Don Alonzo," he whispered in Spanish, "your daughter 
is waiting for you. She has been very anxious on your 
account." 

The Spaniard lingered, though he turned almost involuntarily 
from the table to follow his summoner. 

" Hallo, Hetson ! " cried Siftly, recognizing the intruder, 
"you're a rare guest. Come here, won't you, and try your 
luck." 

Hetson looked at him in grave reproach, but made no answer 
to the invitation. He only beckoned with his hand to Don 
Alonzo to come away. 

" See here — the alcalde ! " was repeated on various sides, as 
he was recognized by several of his friends. " A glass of brandy, 
old fellow? Come here — we must have a glass together. 
Hang it, man, you make yourself as scarce as a swallow in the 
winter. Here, bar-keeper, a bottle of champagne here." 

" Thank you, friends, but I never drink," answered Hetson, 
coldly. 

" Temperance man, eh ! " laughed five or six voices round 
him. " Hang it all, that won't do for California. 
" Come, senor, it's time we were going." 
" Si, si, senor." 

" But that won't do, Hetson,'^ called out Siftly after them ; 
"you musn't carry off my best client in that way. Senor, one 
single card more — double or quits — eight weeks or nothing? 
Well, well, if you won't, it's all the same to me ; only I'd have 
given you the opportunity. So, to-morrow evening; — don't 
forget it, or I shall have to come and remind you.'^ 

Hetson had taken the Spaniard's arm, and began to draw him 
away through the crowd. 

"What did he mean by eight weeks?'' he asked, when they 
were out in the open street. 

" He played false ! " hissed the Spaniard through his closed 
teeth, speaking more to himself than to his friend. " I saw him 
slip a card under the pack." 

"And have I not warned you against these gamblers ? Have 
you not promised me, and your daughter too, that you would 
avoid them ?" asked Hetson, in not unfriendly remonstrance. 



THE MEETING. 



269 



" I know— I kuow/'^ groaned the old man ; "but I could not 
help it ; it was to be — it was my fate." 

" And for what have you been playing ? " 

"Por my soul;' whispered the Spaniard; and, wrapping? his 
oncho closer round him, he strode gloomily along, with^ent 
ead, beside his leader. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE MEETING. 

A LIGHT mist lay next morning over the valley, falling, when 
the sun rose, in the form of dew, and imparting a peculiar and 
grateful freshness to the air. A thin veil, tinged red with the 
morning beams, still hung over the rocky hollows, where the dark 
cedars looked almost blue in the cool air, while the red thick 
stems of these glorious trees loomed out like pillars of porphyry 
from the shadow of the wood. 

The scene was calm and beautiful indeed; but man, who 
boasts himself the last crowning work of creation, too often 
appears but a blot on the fair face of nature. And so it was 
here. Envy, hatred, and malice, born of the greed of gold, 
— such were the passions that filled the hearts of the little busy 
community ; and, in the consciousness that gold lay buried here, 
they had really converted their beautiful Paradise on earth into 
something very like a Pandemonium. 

Hetson, the alcalde of this wild, "many-headed monster," 
had been up and stirring since daybreak ; and naturally anxious 
about the aspect of affairs, he wished to see the sheriff without 
loss of time. He would gladly have first spoken a word with 
Manuela's father, as the old Spaniard had not answered his 
questions the night before. But Don Ronez was still asleep ; 
and Hetson, with his head full of more weighty business, 
deferred their interview to another time ; so he told his wife not 
to wait breakfast for him, and went out of the tent. 

Mrs. Hetson had noticed that something unusual was going 
on, but she was ignorant of the cause of the agitation, and iiad 
no notion of any danger; on the contrary, she rejoiced to see that 



270 



THE MEETING. 



her Imsbancl had entirely shaken off his morbid apathy, and seemed 
to recover all his health and activity in the cares and duties of 
his nevv^ vocation. 

But Manuela was in a very mournful and desponding mood, 
for the previous day had revived all her misgivings and anxieties 
on her father's account. That the man whom she dreaded most 
on earth should have discovered them in their quiet retreat, was 
enough to awaken all her fears ; and she dreaded, not without 
good cause, that he would lead her weak father once more to 
follow his pernicious counsel. The prolonged absence of Don 
Eonez last evening convinced her that her fears were but too 
well grounded, — and she had been only half consoled by Hetson's 
assurance that he would prevail on Siftly to cease playing with 
Don Alonzo. 

With the grateful affection towards Mrs. Hetson which made 
her insist on taking the little household cares upon herself, the 
warm-hearted girl had prepared breakfast for the family ; but for 
her father's appearance she waited in vain. At last she and 
Mrs. Hetson were obliged to breakfast alone, for the alcalde still 
remained absent, and the poor weak gambler had not mustered 
courage to encounter the clear gaze of the child whom he loved 
even while he wronged her. 

" Come Manuela," said cheery Mrs. Hetson, at last, "the men 
seem quite to have deserted us — both your father and my hus- 
band, — and I think we've waited for them long enough ; so we'll 
just put by their breakfast, and go out for a walk, for we have 
not had a finer morning since we came out into the mountains. 
It is really a shame to waste all our time waiting in this canvass 
castle." 

"But Mr. Hetson " 

" Oh, he has his own business to see after, and doesn't trouble 
his head about us," answered the young wife, with a smile; "so 
he can't take it amiss if we stray away for a little while into the 
open air ; — dear me, after all, nature is the only pleasant thing we 
have about us here in the mountains ! " 

" But there was such a disturbance in the town yesterday/* 
said Manuela, timidly. 

" Don't be alarmed about that ; you are not accustomed to 
these things in your country, little Manuela ; — but among the 
Americans women are everywhere safe, and would even find pro- 
tection with the roughest backwoodsman, if they stood in need 
of it. So run in and get your mantilla. I question much if Mr. 
Hetson will be in before dinner-time, for he told me that he had 
a great deal of business to settle with the sheriff ; so that if we're 



THE MEETING. 



271 



back in time to get them something to eat, that's all tliey ^-iH 
require, and they vron't even miss us. Besides, I've ofteirfelt a 
wish to climb one of the hills, and have a good view of the place 
which our new countrymen, with their own modesty, choose to 
cfill a Paradise." 

In that lonely spot among the mountains, where Hale had met 
the Indian chief Kesos and his Mexican friends, a solitary horse- 
man was standing. He had dismounted from his beast, and 
leaniDg one arm upon the saddle, was contemplating the beauteous 
scene before him. 

He was a young man with an open, friendly countenance, 
much sunburnt, but beardless; with brown curling hair and 
merry blue eyes. He was evidently not an American— his water- 
proof coat and grey trowsers had an unmistakably English cut 
about them — though a broad Panama hat completed his costume. 
All his clothes were tolerably new, and did not, like those of the 
majority of travellers, show signs of hard usage. 

He had been standing thus for about a quarter of an hour, 
when his horse, suddenly desisting from cropping the herbage, 
threw up its head and uttered a loud neigh. The call was 
answered by a similar sound close by ; and the traveller, turmng 
his head, became conscious of an old man, who, in the blue jean 
frock generally affected by backwoodsmen, with red cloth gaiters 
on his legs, and a chocalate-coloured felt hat on his head, came 
riding at a footpace down the narrow path that led through the 
forest. On his left shoulder rested a long Am.erican rifle, and 
an old well-worn shot-pouch and powder-horn dangled at his 
side. On seeing the stranger he gave a friendly nod, and 
alighted from his horse, whicli he allowed to roam about at its 
pleasure with the bridle hanging loose upon its mane. 

" Looking at the prospect, stranger ? " he asked ; and coming 
up to the traveller, he stood leaning on his long gun. " Yes, 
its a fine view— a sight that's good for sore eyes — to see a preity 
iittle place like this, so snugly hidden among the hills. I've 
come quite a long bit out of my way, just to stop a mhmtc or 
two and have a good look at it." 

The country is a noble one, indeed," answered the traveller ; 
" but its a pity that such a place should be honeycombed into 
holes, only for the sake of so much gold." 

"Don't be in a hurry," resumed the old man with a good- 
natured smile. "That's only the beginning. The gold was a 
capital bait to draw people here, and bring emigrants mto the 
country; but they've got the right stuff in them lor larmcrs, 
have those noisy hairy-faced chaps who are now tearing and 



272 



THE MEETING. 



driving away to dig their own livelihood out of the earth — guess 
they'll know how to spend their time better presently." 

You don't think that any one in California will care to sow 
a field, and then to wait for the harvest to grow ? " observed the 
young man, with an incredulous look. 

I don't think anything about it, strauger," was the stolid 
answer, " for I knoio that they'll have to do it, as sure as that's 
the sun shining on the cedars yonder. This is a wild country 
now, and there are a wild set of fellows in it, blown together 
from all parts of creation — but it'll be a great country some day, 
whether wc Kvc to see it or not." 

" ^Yho would like to live here — I mean to stay for good, — to 
bring liis wife and children among such a set ? " 

" Why, its rather early days as yet, to be sure, and not exactly 
the place for women to feel comfortable and homely in ; thought 
our backwoods gals aren't noways particular. But let a year or 
two go by, and then see how it will all change. Why, even 
now you may see how some of our sharp fellows are knocking 
up shanties and log-huts by the side of the rivers, in good 
places for building mills, and in the places where roads are likely 
to cross. What do they do that for but to secure the pre- 
emption right; and where they now sell mouldy pork and cursed 
bad brandy to travellers, they'll soon be farming fields of their 
own, or working mills and sawing wood ; and let them once 
make a beginning, and you've no notion, stranger, how the 
houses will just grow out of the ground like pumpkins." 

" Well, I hardly think I shall see all that," observed the young 
man, with a smile. "I've only come here to travel through this 
strange country, and, at any rate, to have a try for some gold 
here and there. It's hardly the place I should choose to live in 
for any time." 

" You're a Britisher ? " 

" Yes, I am." 

" You've something of a seaman's look about you : I don't 
know if its the tie of your handkerchief, or the cut of your 
clothes, but you look to me as if you were more at home on 
board a ship than on a horse — and, by the way, yours seems to 
have lamed itself." 

" You're right," answered the stranger, " I am a sailor, and 
certainly know more about ships than about horses, though I can 
ride pretty weU, too. But this poor brute has knocked his fore- 
leg against a stump this morning, and has got a pretty deep 
cut, if not worse — so I'm leading him along, poor fellow, to 
give him as good a chance as I can. It's awkward enough, as 



THE MEETING. 



273 



it happens, for I've a good way still before me, and tMs horse 
can't carry me — that's very sure." 

" Then I reckon you'd better make a deal with some one for 
another," said the old backwoodsman, who had stooped down to 
look at the injured leg. "It's only a flesh wound, as you say ; 
and the beast looks sound and spry enough but for that. If it 
could rest here for a week or two — and pasture don't cost any- 
thing out here in the woods — it would be as good as ever. You 
€ome from the Mocalome, I fancy ? " 

" You're right." 

" And what did you think of it ? " 

" Why, upon my word, one place of the kind is just about as 
good as another," said the Englishman ; " but to say the truth, 
I'm sick of the mines, and am going back to San Prancisco to 
I get a ship." 

I " So you don't like the country, that's about the truth ? 
Well, I should think it a first-rate place for a man who's alone. 
It's a little savage, to be sure, but a seaman, who goes knocking 
about the world without a home of his own to go to, ought to 
be able to stand it for a year or so. There ain't a better country 
in the world for a bachelor than California." 

" And how is it with you ? " asked the Englishman. " Have 
you no family ? " 

A dark shade passed over the old man's open face, and for a 
moment he was silent ; then he said in a lower tone — 

" I had a family of my own, stranger — tWo as good lads as 
ever carried a rifle. They died side by side in the last Mexican 
war ; and my old woman couldn't stand it as I did. She seemed 
to pine away like, and we soon had to carry her out. She said 
she was going to see her boys again, poor thing. So now," he 
added, with an effort to regain his cheerfulness, " I'm a bachelor 
again ; — and though I'm too old to. begin life anew, I feel glad for 
the youngsters, when I see what a famous place they'll have to 
work in. We've bought it dear enough, God knows — it has cost 
a good deal of blood and many tears— but we have got it, and 
we know its value." 

The young man looked at the speaker with considerable 
interest— and as he looked, he seemed to recognize somethnig 
familiar in the old man's features. 

" I fancv we must have seen each other before, somewhere or 
other," he" said. " I'm sure I don't meet you for the first tmie 
to-day." 

The backwoodsman smiled good-humouredly. 
Here in the mines," he answered, "men seldom take mucii 

T 



THE MEETING. 



notice of cacli other, and two people can meet day after day for 
months without either troubling himself to iaiow anything 
about the other. Certainly we have met before ; and in fact it 
^Yas very lately, yonder by the Macalome, where we were digging 
by the same' river-bank, not two hundred paces apart. You 
were iu partnership with an American, who afterwards fell ill, 
while I and five others were throwing up a dam in the stream, a 
little lower down." 

" I remember perfectly now/' said the Englishman ; " and are 
you going to try your luck here now ?" 

" No/' replied the American, " I was here before, and am 
going to stop by the Macalome now; I only came across to fetch 
away some things I had left here. If possible, I shall return this 
afternoon. Are you going down into the town now ? " 

" I don't know yet, whether I shall My first intention was not 
to stop here at all ; but the accident to my horse has put me out, 
for I am a bad walker." 

*'Like all sailors," observed the old man, with a laugh ; "but 
don't let him rest here too long, for if his leg growls stifp you 
v/on't get him along at all. I don't much doubt but you'll find a 
a purchaser for him below there." 

" So much the better. If I don't, I must work in the neigh- 
bourhood till his leg is well ; but I shall have to look out for a 
partner, for I sold all my tools down at the Macalome." 

The backwoodsman had listened with evident interest to the 
stranger's plans ; and he now said, with genuine good feeling — 

"Come — you won't take it amiss, stranger, if I give ye a bit 
of advice, now?" 

" Certainly not ; on the contrary, I shall feel much obL'ged to 
you." ^ 

"Well, then, don't have too much to do with them down 
yonder. You will find very few, or none at all, from the old 
country there; and you'll find the Americans have rather an 
ugly prejudice against you." 

"Against me, as an Englishman ? " 

" Why, yes. There's a report abroad that the British Govern- 
ment have sent a whole lot of convicts over here. I don't know 
whether it's true, and, in fact, I can hardly believe it ; still, 
there arc plenty of unruly fellows among us who are always 
glad ot any excuse for showing their spite against any but their 
own people. They're particular set against the Britishers, and 
It s better to keep out of then- way, for they generally hang to- 
getlicr hko currants on a bush. One man alone hasn't any 
chance against them." 



THE MEETING. 



275 



" Has anything queer happened here then ? " 

" Not against the Britishers, as yet ; but if its true wliat a 
German told me this morning, there have been some squabbles 
between the Americans and the foreigners generally, in the last 
few days, that won't make either party love the other better.'' 

"There seems, indeed, to be some cause of excitement," said 
the Englishman, who had been looking down towards the to^vn. 

" Who may that troop of people be, on the declivity yonder ? 
They look almost like military/' 

Those men are Mexicans. You can see their pack-saddles 
scattered all about where they stand. I don't know what they 
mean by trooping all together; they can't be a caravan, there 
are too many of them for that. The Indians, too, have assembled 
in force in the hills. Didn't you meet with any of them ? " 

"Yes, I saw two troops — forty or fifty men in each. Bat 
they seemed peaceable enough ; and there were several Mexicans 
with them." 

" Were there ? Well, then I don't think all is as it should 
be down here." 

" How do you mean ? " 

" We shall see, when we get down there. Well, good-bye, 
if you're going to let your horse rest here a little longer. I 
wish you luck. " 

He held out his hand to his companion, who shook it heartily. 

" I thank you sincerely for your good counsel," he said. " If 
all Americans were like you, there wouldn't be many quarrels 
between two countries so closely related." 

" Why, you see, relations are apt to quarrel among them- 
selves," said the old man, with a smile. "Such quarrels are 
seldom of much account, and I hope it will be the same thing 
here — but I must make haste off ; " and he climbed slowly into 
his saddle, gave a last look at the beautiful valle}'-^ before him, 
and the next moment was riding down the incline, towards 
the flat. 

The Englishman now relieved his horse of saddle and bridle, 
and led it slowly along to where a clear streamlet came purh'ug 
out of the rock ; here he allowed it to drink and roam at libcriy, 
while, stretched beneath one of the berry-bushes which grew 
luxuriantly around, he gave himself up to his own tliouglits. 

He had reclined thus for perhaps half an hour, when he sud- 
denly saw light female garments fluttering through the buslics ; 
and immediately after, two women emerged into the open spacr, 
where they stopped, and stood gazing back at tlic town. At 
first he thought they would soon pass on, and only looked at 

T 2 



.276 



THE MEETING. 



them in wonder, marvelling how women could have come to that 
wilderness. He had, however, seen some Mexican and Chilian 
girls at the Macalome ; and as the two women were speaking 
Spanish together, though he could not distinguish what they 
said, he remained quietly where he was, without giving much 
attention to the circumstance. 

The women, in the mean time, were lost in admiration of the 
scene around. 

"Look, Manuela," said one of them, "how beautiful — how 
lovely it is here ; and to think we should have been here so many 
days, and that naughty Hetson never once took us to this spot." 

"Yes, — it looks peaceful and quiet enough, the little tent- 
town," observed Manuela, in reply, " but how many people in 
that pretty place live a life of greed and covetousness and wrong." 

" Come, come ! — there are many good people down there too, 
Manuela. You must not picture everything in such gloomy 
colours, — and least of all now, when God's bright sun is lighting 
up the whole region, and pouring hfe and strength wherever it 
shines. A sight like this ought to raise our hearts, and make 
us grateful, and not inclined to murmur that life has its dark 
shadows also ; for where the shadows are deepest you'll find the 
sun shining all the brighter by contrast. Look 'at that troop 
of men yonder in coloured cloaks, with all those horses and 
mules ; they must be Mexicans ; — and yonder the miners digging 
in the flat, -— look how their pickaxes glitter in the sun as they 
lift them at their work. And look at the neat little tents with 
the flag waving above them, and the groups of shady trees, and 
the glorious mountains yonder. Oh ! I could stand here for 
hours and never tire of looking at the beautiful picture. If we 
could only stay here, and find peace ! " 

She had laid her hand on Manuela's shoulder, and stood for a 
longtime gazing thoughtfully into the valley; while her com- 
panion herself stood motionless by her side. Eut the cheerful 
mood the beautiful morning had called forth was gone; and when 
Manuela at last turned slowly towards her friend, there were 
bright tears standing in her eyes. 

"Jenny," whispered the warm-hearted girl, stealin sr her arm 
gently round Mrs. Hetson's waist, " Jenny,-~what ails you,— 
what is^it, darling? Have you your secret griefs, as I have? 
And while 1 was pouring out my heart to you and telling you of 
my sorrows, it never entered my thoughts that vou yourself were 
unhappy." 

"1 am not unhappy, Manuela," answered Mrs. Hetson gently, 
as she drew her friend closer to her side. "I should be wicked 



THE MEETING. 



277 



if I said so. In San Eransisco I had indeed a great trouble, and 
much anxiety, but since Mr. Hetson is so much improved in 
health here in the fresh mountain air, the fear of losing him has 
been taken from me." 
" But your tears ? " 

" Did any come into my eyes ? " asked the young wife, smiling 
sadly as she wiped away the traitorous drops. did not know 
it ; — but they were not because I was unhappy ; they were in 
remembrance of one who is dead. Recollections of past trouble 
made me for a moment melancholy — no, not melancholy, only 
thoughtful. It is past now, and we will go on, and rejoice*^ in the 
bright beautiful morning." 

"What was that?" whispered Manuela, anxiously. Her 
quick eye had descried a dark form gliding through the bushes. 

" Where ? " asked Jenny, hastily. " Did you see anything ? " 

" Yes — over yonder — not twenty paces from us — there it is 
again. Good Heavens! they are Indians, — and we have been 
foolish enough to come all this way from home." 

Let us go back," whispered Mrs. Hetson, really alaraied; 
"my husband does not even know in what direction we went. 
Perhaps they have not seen us yet." 

" It is too late," answered Manuela, who, to say the truth, 
preserved her composure much better than her friend did. 
" They have noticed us already, and are coming this way." 

Jenny had turned deadly pale, but she answered not a word. 
She only grasped Manuela's arm convulsively, and thus awaited 
the approach of the dusky figures, which seemed to rise out of 
the earth on every side. But the Indians took little notice of 
the women; the first who came near them had stopped and 
exchanged a few words in their own language, while their glances 
rested on the two trembling forms ; but they evidently had no 
hostile intention. 

"Walle! walle!" they cried, in friendly greeting, as they 
went quickly past. 

"Walle! walle!" repeated those who followed; and in a few 
minutes the whole troop had disappeared among the bushes. 

Still the women did not dare to move, for fear the Indians 
should unexpectedly return. At last Mrs. Hetson said,— 

"Come, we must leave this place directly; for though these 
wild men of the woods look friendly enough, a second troop ot 
them might not let us off so easily. We have certamly strayed 
too far from the town, and Mr. Hetson may be displeased when 
he comes to hear of it." i r i 

There are some more coming I " whispered Manuela; I ouij 



278 



THE MEETIi^G. 



wish we were away from here. It was very fooL'sh of us to run 
off into the woods by ourselves." 

"That's only a horse," observed Jenny, with a smile. "It 
seems to be grazing, — so white men must be ia the neighbour- 
liood; — and see, there is the owner. Heaven be praised ! we've 
nothing more to fear now. The Indians avoid people with 
firearms." 

It was in fact the young Englishman, who began to be uneasy 
about his horse when he saw the Indians, of whom it was said, 
in the mines, that they sometimes made away with horses and 
mules, to make a dainty meal of their flesh ; a contingency to 
which he did not wish to expose his property. Moreover, his 
horse had rested long enough to go the short distance to the 
town, and he had been about to saddle it again when the red- 
skins appeared. 

The rough nature of the path, which was bounded here and there 
by low but steep walls of rock, compelled him to pass close by the 
women to get to his horse. Manuela turned her head towards 
him, and he saw at a glance that the girl was of Spanish race. 
Prom the experience he had of the " sehoritas " in the Macalome 
mines, he felt disposed to take no further notice of her ; but he 
was impressed, in spite of himself, by the radiant beauty and the 
almost child-like bearing of the Spanish maiden, and almost in- 
voluntarily he turned and bowed respectfully. As he did so, his 
eyes rested for a moment on Manuela's companion. He stopped 
abruptly,— saw her turn pale and cling to her friend for support, 
— and stretching out both his arms, he exclaimed in a tone of 
almost terrified surprise, — 
" Jenny ! Jenny 1 " 

"Eor Heaven's sake! my dear, dear Jenny, what ails you ? " 
cried Manuela ; supporting her sinking friend with one hand, 
while she caressed her, as one would a frightened child, with the 
other. 

" It is nothing—it is past," gasped Mrs. Hetson, with a violent 
effort to recover her composure, and stand upright. 

" Jenny !" said the stranger, in a voice that trembled with the 
depth of its emotion,-~and he hastened towards her and seized 
her passive hand ; " is it thus we meet again ? " 

Eor a moment she stood silent and motionless before him,— she 
had pushed back Manuela's supporting arm, and drew her hand 
from the jouug man's eager grasp,— and she looked wildly round, 
as it lor a chance of flight, to escape the terrible meeting. But 
involuntarily her eyes fell again on the stranger's face there 
was a world of pam m the manly furrowed brow, — and all the 



THE MEETING. 



279 



feelings she had so long crushed back into her heart burst forth 
in a wild flood, with the remembrance of her vanished hopes, and 
of the grief she had endured. 

" Charles ! " she cried, pressing her hands upon her heart, 
and speaking wildly, scarce conscious of where she was— 

Charles ! " and with a loud burst of weeping she ran to the 
stranger as a startled child would run, and hid her face on his 
breast. 

Por more than a minute he held her strained to him. His 
face had grown quite white, but he moved neither hand nor foot; 
only his head drooped over the dear face whose features were 
hidden from him. 

At last she raised her head slowly, and the arms that had 
held her so closely fell powerless. She turned away, and 
sank on her knees, where she had stood, with her glowing face 
buried in her hands. And Manuela knelt by her caressing and 
consoling her, with a woman's quick instinct. 

" Jenny ! my poor, poor Jenny," she whispered, " for Eeaven's 
sake, be calm.'' 

" It is past," murmured the poor woman, as she rose slowly 
from her knees. " Do not fear for me, Manuela ; I know my 
duty : " and her face glowing with matronly dignity, she 
turned again towards the man whom she had loved — ah, how 
fondly ! 

Mr. Golway," she said, and though her voice trembled with 
feeling, it never faltered for a moment, "it w^ould have been 
better for both of us, if you had spared me this meeting. Why, 
oh why did you pursue me thus ? " 

"Pursaeyou f" repeated Golway, in a tone of bitter anguish. 

How can you accuse me so unkindly ? When they told me, in 
Chili, the fatal news that crushed all my hopes, your parents 
added that you had gone to Australia with — with your husband. 
I could get no rest where I was, and right welcome ^ to me was 
the wild excitement with which so many were rashing to this 
El Dorado, as they called it. Here I could certainly not expect 
to meet you ; nor had I any idea that Mr. Hetson would bring 
you to such a strange place." 

"I thought so," murmured Mrs. Hetson to herself. *'0b, if 
he had only listened to mv advice ! " 

" Do not fear, Mrs. Hetson," continued Golway, " that I shall 
ever cross your path again. I am bound for the coast, and the 
next ship that leaves San Erancisco will bear me away from this 
land. I would be the last man to disturb your peace by my 
presence,-^but do not blame me for blessing the iate that has 



280 



THE MEETING. 



once more brought us together. God knows I was resolved to 
bear with patience what was unavoidable ; but still the thought 
is very sweet to me that you have not quite forgotten me, — that 
you will think of me with feelings of esteem and friendship, 
though you must no longer love me. The sea had always been 
my home ; I had dreamed of giving it up and being happy ; God 
bas willed it otherwise, and I have but to follow my old vocation 
to the end." 

It was long ere she could reply. Twice she essayed to speak, 
and the words died away in murmurs on her lips ; at last, fixing 
her eyes on the pale anguished features of him who was indeed 
to her as one risen from the dead, but separated from her by a 
great gulf, she answered slowly, stretching out her hands to- 
wards him, — 

" I thank you, Mr. Golway ; you have acted nobly, according 
to your nature. A dark fate has separated our paths in this 
world ; — my parents have no doubt told you how it came about, 
— how circumstances combined to sever a bond which seemed 
knit for life. But v/e both of us know that the past is irrevocable, 
let our stubborn hearts rebel as they will. The man to whom I 
am married has won first my esteem and then my love ; I belong 
to him alone, and no feeling of what has been shall ever interfere 
with what is now my duty. But be assured that I shall never — 
no, never — forget him to whom first I gave my heart. Heaven 
reward you, Charles, for all the faithful love you bore me, and 
grant my prayer that your grief may be taken from you, that you 
may be happy too—and now, Charles, farewell ! " 

He held her hand— her dear hand— while she spoke, and gazed 
into her face like one entranced — but never by a single word 
interrupted her. But when that one word "farewell" con- 
centrated his whole destiny before him, he had to summon all 
his resolution, lest a woman's strength should shame his 
weakness. 

^ "Farewell, Jenny!" he replied, and lifted the hand he con- 
tmued to hold, gently and respectfully, to his lips. " God bless 
you lor the inendly words you have spoken; they will shine like 
a beacon through many a night of my dark future. I am going 
to yonder town, to change my lame horse here for another, and 
this very day I will quit this place never to return. TareweU I 
and may " 

"Hallo, stranger," cried a rough voice so close to them that all 

there started as they turned round, "haven't vou Ah, Mrs. 

Hetson, I didn't know you at first, nor our little senorita either, 
—glad to meet you here together. Haven't you seen a black 



THE MEETING. 



281 



horse, stranger, with a white forefoot, and a white star on his 
forehead, straying hereabouts. The brand is H.W." 

" No, sir, I have not,'' answered Golway, glancing, if the truth 
must be told, not very pleasantly at the interrupter of their 
colloquy; while Manuela looked quite scared at the appearance 
of the dreaded Siftly. 

Ah, I'm sorry for it," resumed that worthy, to all appearance 
indifferent whether he was welcome or not. " I wish I knew 
where the plaguy beast has wandered to, — with those confounded 
red-skins swarming everywhere it would be as safe in the snowy 
mountains yonder ; — but I fancy we two must have met before" : 
aren't you an Englishman ? " 

" Yes, I am," answered the stranger drily, as he turned away 
from his questioner. 

" And your name," continued the imperturbable Siftly, " was 
— let me see, what was it ? — John, no, Charles Galway, or Gol- 
way ; — isn't it so ? " 

" How do you know me ? " asked the Englishman, looking at 
him in wonder ; for he had no recollection of any such man as 
this hairy-faced troublesome fellow. 

" How I know you ? Bless me, one knocks up against all 
sorts of people at all sorts of places, here in California. We 
worked together in Carson's flat." 

" I was never there in my life." 

" No ? Then it must have been somewhere else. People who 
live long up in the mines are apt to forget the names of places ; 
— but I hope I haven't interrupted you," he added, suddenly 
wheeling round, and staring at Mrs. Hetson. 

No one answered his question. The Englishman had already 
moved away towards the edge of the hill. Once more he turned 
and waved his hand, — once more he met those kind honest eyes, 
and the next moment he had disappeared among the thick bushes 
with which the incline was covered. 

Siftly had been a quiet but attentive observer of the whole 
scene ; and a malicious smile played about his lips. 

"Come, Manuela," said Mrs. Hetson, taking her young com- 
panion by the arm, we must go, or Mr. Hetson will be anxious 
for our safety ; " and with a slight bow to the intruder, the two 
women turned away. But Siftly had no notion of letting them 
off so easily, so he answered Mrs. Hetson's observation as if it 
had been addressed to himself. 

"Mr. Hetson might well be anxious," he said; "for how 
was he to know that you had a male protector up here ? An 
old acquaintance, I presume ; — but unless the gentleman is wait- 



282 



THE MEETIKG. 



ing to accompany you home, I mnst oiier my services, Mrs. 
Hetson,~for the woods here swarm with Indians, and those 
fellows are not to be trusted on any account." 

" The gentleman will certainly not wait for us, sir," answered 
Mrs. Hetson, justly offended at the remark; "but I do not 
apprehend anything; we came here alone, and will manage to 
hnd our way back. A whole troop of Indians came by here, but 
instead of showing anything like hostility they bade us good-day 
in their language, and molested us neither by v/ord or deed." 

So much the better," said Siitty, with a smile. I only 
thought myself bound to offer you my protection out of friendship 
for Hetson." 

Mrs. Hetson bowed, and made another attempt to pass him. 

"Ey the way, senorita," he resumed, turning to Manuela, "I 
presume your papa told you about the contract we made together 
yesterday." 

" My father told me nothing," answered the girl, coldly ; " he 
is not bound to give me an account of his doings." 

''Spoken like a good dutiful daughter," laughed Siftly. 
*'Weli, the couple of hours won't be any great inconvenience to 
you." 

" The couple of hours !" repeated Manuela,, while a cold thrill 
of apprehension ran through her from head to foot. 

" So you really knov/ nothing at all about it ? Well, that's 
not handsome of Sehor Eonez, I must say; for your fingers must 
have got out of practice lately, and you'll want a little prepara- 
tion to regain your old skill." 

''My father?" gasped Manuela ; and a nameless fear of some 
new misfortune deprived her of the power to utter another 
word. 

''Oh, it's nothing to be alarmed about, senorita," said Siftly; 
while a look of maUcious triumph contrasted oddly with the 
seeming indifference of his tone. " The question is only about 
an inconsiderable trifle ; in fact, rather an amusement for you 
than a labour. The whole thing is this : I have settled with him 
that for the next four weeks—it ought, properly speaking, to be 
a mouth, but I'm a liberal man— you're to play in my tent— 
the new one I've just established— for only two hours every 
evening. Now, as it " 

" It is not true— my father cannot have made any such con- 
tract; he may not, he ca7inot do it," interrupted Manuela, 
iialf wild Willi terror. "He knows that I have vowed never to 
set foot in a tent of that kind again." 

"People break a good many oaths, my pretty senorita," 



THE MEETING. 



283 



retorted Siftly, with an ugly grin, "particularly when they're not 
able to keep them. How often have I vowed to myself to ^ive 
up the glorious cards and dice ; and yet somehow they have such 
a charm over me that I can never do it. You see, we can't 
always take these things quite literally." 

"iS[o one, sir," said Mrs. Hetson, "can force this girl to 
fulfil such a contract, if it really has been made. Her consent 
should at least have been gained in the first instance." 

" It is easy to see that you're a lawyer's wife, madam," said 
Siftly, Yv^ith a smile and a bow ; " but in this instance the consent 
you speak of can be dispensed with, inasmuch as the young lady 
is still a minor, and, as such, entirely dependent on her father, 
who is responsible for her. The thing in itself, however, is too 
unimportant to require much discussion. Two hours every 
evening — why, it's hardly worth speaking of!" 

" I shall not play ! " cried Manuela, roused at last to resistance 
by the very terror this man inspired ; " and if my father should 
really have bartered his child again, the law will protect me ; and 
may my hand wither if it touches an instrument in your horrible 
tent of gamblers." 

Siftly stood listening to these angry words with his eyes cast 
down, and a sardonic smile on his face ; then he said, jauntily,— 

" Come, senorita, don't be angry about it. It's often hard to 
endure what can't be cured — isn't it, Mrs. Hetson? Eut we 
learn to bear our little disappointments when we see we can't 
help ourselves — don't we, Mrs. Hetson?'^ 

" Mr. Hetson will never allow it !" cried the young wife, now 
fairly angry. 

" He won't be able to prevent it, my dear lady," answered 
Siftly, with a shrug. " According to the laws, as they are under- 
stood and practised here in the mines, debts of honour must be 
held sacred, and punctually discharged." 

" Then he has been gambling — staking my peace upon a card 
— his own child!" groaned Manuela, hiding her face in her 
hands. 

" No, that must not, shall not be ! " exclaimed Mrs. Hetson, 
indignantly. " Whatever ^02<jr laws may say on the subject, sir, 
the laws of humanity would forbid any such desecration; 
Manuela is under our protection \ and she shall not be compelled 
to sacrifice herself against her will. Hetson will not refuse me, 
if I asked it as a favour.-" 

" Supposing, now, /were to ask you, as a favour, Mrs. Hetson, 
continued Siftly, in his provoking tone of impertinent self-com- 
placency, " to use your influence on my behalf with Mr. Hetson, 



284 



THE MEETING. 



in return for which I should be happy to forget all about this 
your — of course accidental — agreeable meeting with Mr. Charles 
Golway ? I am sure Mauuela would be glad to make a sacrifice 
for her friend's sake, — if, indeed, the trifle I ask can be called a 
sacrifice at all." 

Mrs. Hetson felt the traitorous colour mount to her cheek and 
brow ; but with the certainty that this hateful man knew more 
of her history than she had suspected, came a righteous indig- 
nation at his unworthy suspicions; and she replied, haughtily 
enough, — 

" I do not understand, sir, what the meaning of your threat 
may be ; but, at any rate, it falls harmless. I have no secret 
from my husband, and no secret at all that I should wish to 
impart to you. And now come, Manuela, my poor child ; we run 
less chance of insult from the red savages in the mountains than 
from this white man, who calls himself an American, and my 
husband's friend." And, seizing the girl's hand, she began to 
descend the hill leading towards the town, as fast as she could 
walk. 

Mr. Siftly remained standing with folded arms and a wicked 
grin on his face, watching the two retreating figures ; still, he 
was manifestly surprised that his threat had not produced a 
greater effect. 

"Bah!— plague on it!" he muttered; ''you'll work in my 
favour, my hot-headed lady, for all your airs and graces. Your 
old lover couldn't have come here to the mines at a more con- 
venient time ; and let me alone for profiting by his presence. 
But as for that Spanish pink of prudery, curse me if I let her 
slip out of my fingers again. I haven't made Hetson alcalde for 
nothing. In the mean time, I'll But what's that !" he sud- 
denly exclaimed. "The Mexicans have hoisted a flag over 
yonder! Should the cowardly senores have made up their 
minds to fight, after all!— and with all those Indians prowling 
iibout, too ! If I only had my horse ! I'm afraid those rascally 
red-skins will make a supper of it !" 

For a time he stood in doubt which road to take; but the 
jaixiety lor his own safety at last overcame his solicitude about 
las horse ; for ho knew that if hostilities had really commenced, 
he ran a great risk of having his retreat cut off by the Indians. 
At any rate, the flag in the Mexican camp showed that the com- 
unuuty there had decided on a plan of action; and, wrapping 
his ];)oncho round him, with a bitter curse, he left his horse to its 
fate, and strode down towards the town by the same path the 
two women had taken a few minutes before. 



THE MEXICAN ELAG. 



285 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE MEXICAN ELAG. 

With his heart full almost to bursting, Charles Golway, on 
quitting the two women, hastened to his horse ; but the poor 
animal limped more painfully than ever, and he could not think 
of mounting it again. So long as the horse had kept moving, 
the injured limb had not been entirely useless ; but now, as the 
American had prophesied, the wound bad stiffened and swollen 
through the short rest, and the horse could hardly lift the foot 
from the ground. 

" My poor lad," said the sailor, compassionately, as he patted 
its neck, "I fear you have carried me for the last time, — for I 
€annot wait here till you are cured ; but at least we'll take you 
down into the valley, old fellow, where you may rest yourself, 
and feed at your ease." 

So saying, he slipped the bridle over the horse's ears, and led 
it carefully down the incline by the easiest path he could find, 
purposely avoiding the track the two women had taken, lest lie 
should meet them again. At length, a little farther west, he 
entered the npper part of the fiat, where a small mountain stream 
gushed forth, whose banks, shaded by lofty pines and cedars, and 
by wild hazel-bushes and cherry-trees, offered a rich pasture to 
the weary, footsore steed. 

Below him, at the entrance of the flat, but separated by some 
low bushes from its open part, a few diggers were at work. 
They were negroes, who had turned up the ground here on the 
chance of finding a prize ; and not far from them a single American 
was employed cutting down a number of the bushes, to clear a 
fresh space for his operations. 

When the latter saw the traveller leading the lame horse along, 
he paused in his work, and looked at them, particularly at the 
horse, with some appearance of interest. It was an old friend of 
onrs, Boyles, who had, after all, preferred the small but com- 
paratively sure profits of digging to the alluring but faithless 
chances of the gaming-table; and who accordingly, with jacket 
thrown off and shirt-sleeves rolled up beyond the elbows, was 



2S6 



THE MEXICAN PLAG. 



pe,o:ging a^vay" gallantly to win treasure from the stubborn 
ear til. 

Like liis English cousin, the American is fond of horses, and 
takes an interest in all that relates to them; and the regular 
backwoodsmen, in particular, have a prodigious memory in iden- 
tifying horses they have once seen, recollecting them by little 
pecuharities of colour, or even of pace. They certainly have plenty 
of opportunities for exercising this faculty in their own country, 
where horses and oxen belonging to various owners are allowed 
to roam in company through the woods, with no other means by 
which each proprietor can identify his own among the general herd. 

Not far from Boyles, at a spot where his wounded horse could 
tind food and water, sheltered by thick bushes from the heat of 
the noonday sun, the stranger had stopped, and again relieved 
the poor beast of saddle and bridle. 

^ "Hallo, stranger !" said Boyles, sauntering negligently up to 
him, with his axe on his shoulder, "what have ye done with your 
horse? Why, Til be hanged if it isn't Jim Eoliick's beast. 
Have you owned it long 

" About four weeks." 

" Well,^ that's just about the time he sold it. They say he got 
a good price too." 

" I gave him ten ounces." 

"You don't mean it! — that's a good deal of money. And 
what have you been doing to it ? " 

"Nothing of consequence. He's grazed his leg against a 
dead branch in the wood yonder ; and the heat and dust seem to 
have got to the cut and inflamed it." 

The American had laid down his axe, and came up to the 
horse. He examined its hurt carefully, and then looked at the 
annual witli the air of a connoisseur. 

"And what are you going to do with him now ? " he asked. 

"I hardly know, myself. I want to get to San Erancisco as 
fast as I can, but it may be a week or a fortnight before this 
horse can carry me again." 

"Tliat it will, certainly," observed Boyles, "if it ever gets 
well at all." 

" Why it's only a cut, and will soon heal." 

"Yes— but wdiat with the heat and the insects, it mav get to 
look ugly enough, unless it's kept very clean. Guess you'd better 
sell It." ^ 

" 1 fancy it will come to that. Perhaps I may find some one 
Jicre who will exchange it for another horse or mule— of course 
1 shall have to pay something into the bargain." 



THE IIEXICAN FLAG. 



287 



"If you're only going to San Erancisco/' said Boyles, "I 
don't see why you need buy a horse of your own at all. There 
are plenty of chances going— you can get a place in an empty 
waggon, or on a mule, nearly every day." 

" That wouldn't do for me ; I must get on faster." 

" Well, you'll find plenty of fellows who've got horses to sell, 
I reckon ; but you won't so easily find any one who'll buy a lame 
liorse of you. But, if you're any way reasonable. I shouldn't 
mind dealing with you for that brown chap, because I happen to 
know him of old." 

" Give me three ounces, and he's yours," said the Englishman, 

" Three ounces ! Why, that's a good bit of money, ye see, 
for a lame horse that'll perhaps cost me a charge of powder and 
a ball next week, after all," observed the American, doubtfully ^ 
but he had made up his mind not to let the good bargain escape 
him. " If you'd said Udo ounces, now." 

" Then I'd sooner send him off to pick up his own living here 
in the woods." 

" And how long do you suppose he'd keep his liberty ? It 
wouldn't be long, I can tell you, before one of those yellow- 
skinned Mexicans had him in his lasso ; and he'd make a pack- 
horse of him, till he killed him ; or else the red rascals would be 
cutting him up into beefsteaks. Come, say two ounces and a 
half, and throw the saddle into the bargain." 

" No, friend, I want the saddle myself for my fresh horse> 
when I get one ; and I can't deal with you that way. I lose 
enough by the horse, in all conscience ; but if you choose to 
give three ounces for it, it's yours. You know as well as I do 
what the horse is worth." 

" Well, well, stranger, bargaining makes traders, as they say. 
Who ever gives a man what he asks ? You should see our 
Yankee dealers." 

" But you see, I'm not a Yankee dealer, my good fellow," said 
the Englishman, with a smile ; "but if you want to get some- 
thing off the price, you may fancy I'd asked five ounces, and 
you'd beaten me dowii to three. Come to the next tent, and 
pay me the three ounces, and the horse is yours ; or say you 
don't want him, and I'll sell him to some one else." 

Boyles could not wxll understand it— a man who made a 
demand, and would abate nothing. But as he knew the horse,, 
and felt sure that the flesh-wound would be well in a few days, 
he said after a pause — 

" Well, stranger, you must have your own way ; if you stick 
so tight to your price, I don't care for a few dollars more or less. 



288 



THE MEXICAN ELAG. 



We needn't go into a tent, by the way, for I suppose we've each 
of us our scales, and so we may as well settle our business here 
at once." 

As he said this, he brought out his bag of gold and a pair of 
brass scales from his pocket, and weighed off three ounces of 
gold flakes, which the Englishman put into his own bag, without 
weighiug them after him. With a little practice a man soon 
learns to tell almost at a glance how much gold goes to an 
ounce ; and the only difference is a slight one caused here and 
there by a greater degree of fineness or coarseness in the gold 
itself. 

The horse had meanwhile limped to the nearest water, to 
quench its thirst ; and while Golway took off the saddle and 
strapped the girths together, Boyles washed the wound out care- 
fully, and bound his handkerchief round it. 

" Farewell, my brave old boy," said the young Englishman, 
patting the horse's neck ; " go on and prosper. I hope your 
new master will keep you as carefully as I have done." 

" Never you fear for that," said Bo,yles ; I know how to 
manage horses. You're going to Paradise now ? " 

" Yes ; but I shall not stay there longer than just until I have 
got a new horse. There seems to be some disturbance there, 
just now." 

"Nonsense," laughed the American, "the senores over yon- 
der on the hill have been gathering together a bit ; but the end 
of the affair will be, that they'll saddle their horses and go 
seek another place to stay in." 

" They have hoisted their flag," said Golway. 

" What ? " cried the American, starting up m astonishment — 
" the Mexican flag— in our very teeth ? " 

" I saw it, as I came down the hill." 

"The devil you did! Then that explains why my partner, 
with whom I was to have sunk a hole, hasn't turned out to work 
to-day. Thunder ! but we'll soon have the rascals' flag down,— 
and I'm wasting my time out here, cutting down bushes." 

Muttering curses as he went, the man ran back to where he 
had been at work. He put on his jacket, flung his implements 
on his sliouldcr, and began running as fast as he could go, through 
the bushes, towards the town. 

Golway, meantime, took the saddle and bridle on his shoulders 
and followed him at a slower pace, down the narrow footpath 
leading to the Paradise. 

In the town itself, as Eoyles had rightly conjectured, there 
was a great excitement going on. 



THE MEXICAN FLAG. 



289 



Already, in the early morning, tlie Mexicans showed that they 
had given np their pacific intentions towards the United States 
men. What the reports were that had circnlated among them 
nobody knew; but when Hale, who still hoped to settle the 
affair amicably, went to them, and begged them to disperse 
quietly to their work, even assuring them that they should not 
be again disturbed so long as they paid the tax established bv 
law, they warned him off curtly and even threateningly. It i's 
possible that his well-intentioned and friendly address only con- 
firmed them in their opposition, inasmuch as they ascribed it to 
the fear inspired by their numbers. But if so, they had greatly 
miscalculated. 

Repulsed with words of contempt and insult. Hale came back 
into camp in a towering rage, and, v/ithout consulting the alcalde, 
at once called a meeting of all the Americans. But most of 
them were at work in the flat, and when he sent to them, only 
a few obeyed the summons. Many sent back word that they had 
something better to do than to trouble themselves about'a set 
of rascally Mexicans ; but at dinner-time they would come. 

Hale was furious ; and just as he was going, in the most un- 
amiable mood possible, to seek out the alcalde, to consult with 
him on the most necessary steps to be taken, he met Hetson 
himself, coming out of his tent pale and agitated. 

Have you not seen my wife anywhere ? " was his first ques- 
tion, when he caught sight of the sheriff. " She is not anywhere 
about the camp." 

Your wife ? " grumbled the sheriff, impatiently; "a ^rreat 
deal of time I have just now to be looking after women. "Where 
should she be ? " 

'•'Heaven knows ! most likely out for a walk; perhaps she 
has gone up into the mountains,'' 

"Then she has chosen a very capital time for her excursion," 
said Hale; "the hills are swarming with Indians. The wonder 
is to me where the red rascals have come from all at once. Mr. 
Hetson, this affair is growing serious, and though we've taken 
matters easily enough hitherto, we mmf do something now, to 
show these fellows that we're not to be played with. If we wait 
till they attack us, wt are lost men ; for they can easily over- 
match us, twenty to one." 

" You're right, Mr. Hale,—-perfectly right," answered Hetson, 
whose face was perfectly white with violent excitement ; " only, 
for God's sake, find my "wife for me, and then we'll begin a fight, 
and scatter them all over the plain." 

"Well, that's not bad. I declare," cried Hale, angrily; "I 
TJ 



290 



THE MEXICAN I^LAG. 



suppose it's part of my business ! What the mischief can have 
possessed the woman, that she goes gadding out, when there's 
the devil to pay everywhere. Did she go quite alone ? 

"Manuela must be with her." 
And she's not anywhere in the town ? " 

" I've searched through all the dealers' tents." 

"Well, well,— women haven't any business in the mines at all, 
and that's the truth of it. Hang it all, we men have enough to 
do to hold our own. We must get our own people together, by 
some means or other, for if we wait till dinner-time, there'll be 
more mischief done than we can repair in a w^eek. Plague on 
the greedy fellows who won't lose half a day's work, while all the 
other nations are holding together as thick as thieves. There's 
not a single one of the Erenchmen at work in the fiat ; they're 
all assembled, to a "man, in the tent yonder ; and if we get them 
upon us too, I don't see what else w^e have for it but to show so 
many pair of heels." 

" We will not run for it, sheriff," said Hetson ; but he spoke the 
words in a strange absent way, and his eyes w^andered restlessly 
up and down the street. " Do you collect our countrymen ? 
I — I shall be with you directly ; " and without regarding the 
look of utter astonishment with which Hale stared after him, he 
hurried up the street, and soon disappeared among the tents. 

Hale stood for a long time gazing after him, apparently un- 
decided what to do next. At last he burst into an angry impre- 
cation, and called after his retreating chief, — 

" We will not run for it !— I shall be back directly '.—-Indeed! 
— I'll be cursed if I believe a word of it, and that's the long and 
short of the story. Back again directly ! — I dare say ! — He's 
glad enough of an excuse to go dangling after his wdfe, and Hale 
may get the chestnuts out of the lire in the mean time, like a 
cai's-paw as he is. I don't care; — if they knock you both on 
tlie head, it won't be a great loss, and no one in the States will 
shed many tears about it but isn't it the very mischief that we 
can't find a proper alcalde ? Who says I'm wrong w^hen I say 
that the fellows who are always writing seem to have their hearts 
in their heels ? I, at least, have never found a true man amoner 
them." ^ 

Grumbling thus, he took his little telescope out of his pocket, 
and looked sharply across towards the mountains, w^here the 
dusky forms of tlic Indians could now be distinguished with the 
naked eye. Wherever one of the little open spaces between the 
ljuslics allowed a view over the plain, appeared a troop of the 
rcu men, and some had encamped even in the flat itself, without. 



THE ^lEXICAN FLAG. 



291 



however, manifesting any kind of hostility. But Hale knew very 
well that this peaceable appearance might change at any moment; 
and if once these men broke loose, they would have no scruple in 
firing the whole camp." 

Slowly he swept the flat with his glass, until it pointed to the 
place where the Mexicans stood. Then suddenly he sprang ui:; 
with a cry of astonishment. He could hardly believe his senses ; — 
but a second and a third survey convinced'' him that he was not 
mistaken, — for there, among the group of swarthy horsemen, 
floated the Mexican flag. 

"There we have it ! " he shouted, closing his telescope with an 
angry snap ; " open revolt in the camp, and the Americans out 
there digging the confounded gold out of the ground, as if they 
hadn't the slightest interest in life in the whole business ; — and 
no alcalde to keep order, — the devil to pay, and no pitch liot. 
But rU be cursed if I stand it any longer, even if I have to go 
out myself and fetch the flag in; " and, in a towering rage at the 
Mexicans' impudence, he ran into his tent to fetch his rifle. 
What he was going to do with it he did not exactly know. 

Hetson had been hurrying up the street, half mad with anxiety, 
in quest of the missing women, — and bitterly did he repent not 
having given them a word of warning. But he did not wish to 
alarm them, perhaps unnecessarily, and had never suspected that 
they would leave the camp, and trust themselves in the very 
stronghold of the enemy. 

On reaching the last tents he inquired in vain of the passers- 
by concerning their whereabout. A German, however, had seen 
them about an hour before walking towards the mountains. It was 
there the Indians had mustered in greatest force, and Hetson 
was just about to start in pursuit of them, when, to his inex- 
pressible joy, he descried the missing ones, running at full speed 
towards him. 

" God be praised ! " was all he could utter ; but a load seemed 
taken from his soul, and all the dark clouds that fear and sus- 
picion had cast upon his spirits vanished at once, as his wife 
looked appealingly at him. 

" Oh, don't be angr^^, dear Erank," she cried, running up to 
Hetson and seizing his hand; "we had no idea of any danger 
here, so near the tents." 

"You have made me very, very anxious, Jenny," replied her 
husband, who immediately "began to retrace his steps, talking as 
they walked back in company. " I did not even know wliut 
direction you had taken; and the look of things about the cam]) 
becomes more threatening every moment." 

ij 2 



292 



THE MEXICAN PLAG. 



"The Mexicans have hoisted a flag/' said his wife, timidly; 
" what can they mean by that ? " 

" Their flag! " exclaimed Hetson, with a start; "then come, 
my love, walk quicker if you can, — I haven't a moment to spare. 
But are'you quite sure of what you say ? " . 

" One can see it quite plainly from the hill yonder," said 
Manuela ; "and even from here, if you step this way, senor, you 
mav see it fluttering in the wind." 

j&etson looked in the direction indicated, and a single glance 
sufficed to show him that she had spoken truth. 

"Ladies," he said, turning with a quiet smile to his two com- 
panions, " you have found your way down here alone, from the 
mountains, so I shall have no compunction in leaving you to 
yourselves for the few steps between this and home. We are 
close by the tents, and there's nothing to fear now." 

" Erank, there is something I should like to tell you, before 
you leave us again." 

" Does it concern the camp yonder, or the Indians ? " 

" No — ourselves — me." 

" Then let it stand over, my dear, till by-and-by. But now 
both of you must make the best of your way home to our tent ; 
we shall see each other again there ; " and without waiting for an 
answer, he ran off to find the sheriff, and consult on their plan of 
action. 

Hale, who had been cleaning and loading his rifle in all haste, 
was marching up the street with a few Americans whom he had 
picked up in the tents. On seeing Hetson he cried out, with far 
more irony than respect in his tone, — 

" Well, alcalde, have you found your wife ? I hardly thought 
we should see you back so soon." 

"Yes, sheriff, I have certainly found her," answered Het- 
son, quietly ; and lie stepped towards his tent, before which the 
American flag fluttered from a tall pine-stem. " The women are 
in safety, and nov/ we men will take measures for our safety, 
too." 

He loosened the "fall," and was about to pull down the flag 
from its position, Avhen Hale, with a shout of indignation, rushed 
towards him, and levelled his rifle. 

"Are you mad?" he cried, in a fury. "Do you mean to 
strike tlie stars and stripes before those Mexican rascals? — 
Hang it, tliougli you (fre the alcalde, if you lower that flag 
one inch from the staff, Til send a bullet through your treacherous 
head for you." 

" Sheriff," answered Hetson, sternly,— and with his right hand 



THE MEXICA^^ FLAG. 



293 



he drew a revolver from his pocket, while Iris left still grasped 
the fall, "for that speech of yours I might shoot you dead where 
you stand, as I would a mad dog ; and I would do it, if I didn't 
know you for an honest and a true man. But we've quarrels 
enough on our hands, without beginning to fight among ourselves. 
Can you tell me a better way to summon our people together 
than by lowering the flag 

The sheriff looked doubtfully at him, but made no reply. 
Hetson put the revolver back into his pocket, and without taking 
any further notice of Hale, who still stood threateningly behind 
him, he drew the banner down to the ground. 

" And what are you going to do now ? '' asked Hale, com- 
pletely astonished by this determined proceeding on the part of 
a man he had condemned as a trifler and a cov/ard. 

" Alone we can do nothing," answered Hetson, untying the 
flag from the fall ; " but if the raising of the Mexican and the loss 
of their own flag doesn't drive the fellows into camp, they don't 
deserve to be called American citizens, or to have the stars and 
stripes flying above their heads." 

"And then, — lohen they come ? " asked Hale, with a searching 
glance at his chief. 

" Why, then," laughed Hetson, " we'll go and fetch in the 
Mexican flag, and hoist it reversed under our own ; I fancy that 
will bring the fellows to their senses." 

" And you really mean to do that ? " asked Hale, still in- 
credulous. 

" \i you will stand by me. Hale, we will ! — But there comes 
my wife, — she needn't exactly know vfhat we're about, for she'd 
only be anxious ; — and yonder I see some of our lads coming 
jumping across the flat. You see my scheme has succeeded, 
sheriff. Is there no flagstaff here ? " 

Mrs. Hetson had come up with Manuela, and stopped, as if 
she wanted to speak to her husband. But he motioned her into 
the tent, with a smile, and turned again to the little group of 
Americans, while Hale ran off in searcli of a pole for the flag. 
In a few minutes he came back with one wliicli had helped to 
support his tent; and new reinforcements of diggers, suiiunoncd 
by Hetson's ingenious device, now came pouring in. 

" Hallo ! what's up now ? " cried the hardy diggers, as, 
heated from their run, they came bounding along the street. 
" Who's struck the ximericanflag ? " 

"I did," answered Hetson, quietly. ."The Mexican flag didn't 
remind you of your duty, so I thought the loss of your own 
banner might make you stir." 



29 i THE MEXICA:^7 TLAG. 

" What the 'tarnal !" grumbled a long Kentuckian;"we didn't 
ti.iiik of looking after the blackguard Spaniards ; and it's only 
just now we noticed the coloured rag over there. I've run here 
fco fast that I've hardly any breath left in my body. Hallo! 
tli^■rc come Boyles and JBriars. This way, lads ! this ww ! " 

Others now came panting in, till nearly the whole American 
community had assembled before the alcalde's tent. In threats 
and curses, both loud and deep, they unburdened their minds 
against the Mexicans. 

A triumphant cheer that sounded faintly over the flat from 
the Mexican camp interrupted the clamour, and Hale exclaimed : 

"I'll be hanged if they're not mocking us for pulling down our 
flag!" 

" Well, men, and what do you intend to do ? " asked Hetson, 
who was w4iite with excitement, though no muscle in his quiet 
face showed what was going on within him. "There are about 
two hundred Mexicans yonder, and in the mountains double the 
number of Indians are lurking about, ready to join them at any 
moment. What do you propose ? " 

" Send messengers to the different mining-places about here/* 
suggested Eriars ; "if we can get together twenty or thirty more 
good fellows, we needn't care for the whole lot of them." 

" And in the mean time Ave've lowered the American flag before 
them," muttered the sheriff. 

"I'll ride over to Golden Bottom/' volunteered Mr. Smith, 
v;ho looked desperately frightened and uncomfortable. "I've 
got a very good horse, and can be back with help by to-morrow 
mornmg." 

" Yery fine, indeed ! " cried Boyles ; " and have the Spaniards 
insulting us, and our own people laughing, because we can't keep 
order in our own camp." 

'I But what are you to do?" retorted the frightened Mr. 
Smith; "if the whole of the Mexicans and Indians come upon 
us at once, they'll murder us out and out, and burn the whole 
place. What's the use of waiting till they do that ? " 

" Then vfe oughtn't to have struck the flag at all," cried ano- 
tljer, angrily. "Devil take it, alcalde, don't be tying the thing 
fast down here, but send it up the flxagstaff, that at any rate we 
may show the rascals we're not afraid of them." 

Hetson, meantime, without offering a word either for or against 
any of the proposals made, had been quietly fastening the flag 
to the pole supplied by Hale. Grasping the pole, he now struck 
the lov/er end into the earth, so that the flag fluttered out 
merrily. 



THE MEXICAN TLAG. 295 

" EoY^ " lie cried out, in a voice that ran cheerily out over the 
tumultuous group, ''listen to me. I have sworn that so long 
as I'm alcalde here, the rights of our country shah be respected ; 
and no other flag but ours must wave here. If you choose to send 
and let our neighbours round about know ot the danger that 
threatens us here, well, I've nothing in the world to say against it ; , 
but I now call upon every man who can shoulder a ritle or w^ieici 
a knife, to follow me— now and at once,— and wath God s help 
we'll haul down that flag which our countrymen ti-od beneatii 
their feet in this land only a few months ago. VYho 11 ioiiow 

^^'' Why, confound it, every one of us, I fancy," cried Boyles, 
enthusiasticallv ; vou'd better ask ' Who won't follow me i 

"And if the Indians come down from the mountains to lieip 
the Mexicans ? " observed Hale. " At any rate, you know, we 
ouo-ht to be prepared for the chance." 

"I don't think they'll dare," answered iietson. Our only 
chance, with the odds we have against us, is m attacking the 
chief party boldly and without flinching. If we're overcome 
our own people will avenge us; but I rely on our nfles^and 
still more on the suddenness of our attack, to intimidate these 
fellows, who are cowards, after all. So, go boys, and fetch your 
o-uns, for in five minutes we must start ! " ^ . 

"Hurrah!" shouted the hardy backwoodsmen, wiiose spirits 
rose at the prospect of danger. " Hurrah for our alcalde.--]N ow 
for the rifles !— Whooio-ee, against the Mexicans ! and away 
they scampered in alf directions to fetch their arms from the 

The hazardous nature of the enterprise was the very thing to 
recommend it to most of them ; and the minority, who, lookmg at 
it in a quieter way, would gladly have held back did not dare to 
utter their sentiments before their hardier comrades. Mr. bmitu 
only who had no idea of risking his hoardea pelt and His 
valuable life in an affair which he looked upon with grea. 
indifference, had packed up his gold and saddled his horse t ie 
instant he saw the Mexican flag fluttering in the air ; and iie 
now determined, under pretext of fetching speedy help above 
all thino-s to provide for his own personal safety. VVlien tne 
affair should be over-and he knew very well the disturbance 
could not last many days,-he would always be at hberty to come 
back ; and the mines, cleared of the foreigners, would ofter him 
a richer harvest than ever. . a-Mrr 

He had, therefore, taken counsel that mormng with bittly ; 
and that was the reason the latter had gone out so early to iooK 



296 



THE MEXICAN FLAG. 



for his horse. What cared he — the gambler — for a strife in 
which not gold but lead was to be won ! let those fight who had 
no gold to guard — he, cunning man, would keep av/ay from such 
unprofitable work. 

Hetson remained for a minute or two standing beside the flag, 
with only Hale near him. No sooner were the others out of ear- 
shot, than the sheriff went up, with rather a shamefaced air, 
to his superior, whom he shook heartily and apologetically by 
the hand. 

" Mr. Hetson — Fm sure — that is — I'll be hanged if Tm not 
real sorry that Tyq wronged you." 
"My dear Hale " 

" No, really sir — I — I took you for a coward, and I feel fit to 
beat myself for it." 

Hetson laughed, but his smile had something of melancholy in 
it, as he answered, — 

" Many things, my dear Hale, have made me more anxious and 
perhaps more nervous than would appear, to a man like yourself, 
consistent with manly fortitude. But that I am not a coward I 
hope to prove to you to-day." 

" I don't doubt it, sir ; — but your wife — supposing after all — 
anything were to happen to us ? " 

" We stand in the hand of God, Hale," answered the alcalde, 
with his peculiar earnest smile ; " and in this respect I am a 
fatalist." 

" A what ? " asked the sheriff, who thought this must be 
some new kind of life assurance. 

" A fatalist," repeated Hetson ; " that is — believe if I am 
to die to-day, death could find me just as easily in my tent as 
out in the flat." 

" But with the women it is always a bad business." 

"Not with my wife. Hale; she is firm and independent 
enough — and if the worst came to the worst, she could make her 
way back to San Francisco. She knows who are my agents 
there, and they would provide for her return to her own 
country." 

A bitter feeling came over him for a moment, for he thought^ 
"Would my wife think my death a calamity — would she not 

perhaps " he could not follow up the reflection, and passed 

his hand hastily across his brow, as if to wipe the black spot 
away. 

" Come, Mr. Hetson, we'll hope it won't be so bad as that," 
said Hale, who ascribed this sudden emotion to another cause. 
"If all bullets hit, there'd be no more soldiers. But hadn't you 



THE ^klEXICAN TLAG. 



297 



better go in and tell her tliat — that — well, deuce take it, that 
we're going out to dust the Mexicans' jackets ? " 

" 'No, Hale/' answered Hetson, " I feel just in the right mood 
now, and don't want to upset myself unnecessarily. And here 
come our friends back again ; time passes, and that insulting flag 
yonder has been flying much too long already. But what are the 
people bringing there ? Can you see what it is they're carrying 
in front. Hale ? " 

The sheriff burst out laughing. 

" They're a mad-brained set, and will always be so," he said. 
" These backwoodsmen go out to fight as if they were going to 
a frolic," 

" But what are they bringing there ? " 

" Two children's drums and a tom-tom, or gong, that i'hey 
use in the cooking-tents to summon their guests with at dinner- 
time. It seems they were determined to have music of some 
kind or other to march to." 

" Capital !" exclaimed Hetson ; " they could not have done a 
better thing." 

" Hurrah, squire ! " cried Boyles, who came jumpmg along 
with a little cbild's drum in his hands, and his long gun slung 
across his back. " Here we've got the right stuff to drive out 
the rats.— -Hurrah for old America !— but we can't go out without 
^ Yankee Doodle.' " 

Whoop-ee ! " yelled a long Arkansas man, as only a back- 
woodsman can yell ; and setting a tin trumpet to his lips he blew 
a discordant blast. "Pity we can't ride on horseback because 
of the cursed holes ; but at least we'll march soger fashion, 
while we're about it." 

Bang, bang! went the tom-tom, and the drums rolled, and 
the trumpets squeaked an accompaniment ; one fellow had even 
brought a tin coffee-pot, which he belaboured with an ironspoon. 
The people were as boisterously merry as children who had 
turned out with plaything weapons to play at soldiers ; and yet 
each one among them had loaded his rifle; and they ail 
knew that they were going out on a desperate enterprise, m 
which the very first attack might bring down rum upon 

them. . . MP 

Hetson mustered his light-hearted followers with a smiie o 
confidence ; everv trace of doubt or uncertainty had vanisliccl 
from his countenance, which fairly shone with manly dctcnmna- 
tion. Lifting the banner high above Ins head, he began to 
arrange his motley band in something like order, when J^o^ics, 
the noisiest of them all, roared out,— 



2.98 



THE MEXICAN FLAG-. 



"Hallo, boys^ — the music ought to go first !^ — this way, 
hearties ! — there's the fifer ? — where's our baby ? " 

" Here, sir/' answered a shrill voice ; and a little fellow of 
thirteen years, at most, jumped forward. He was dressed only 
in a shirt and trowsers, and a broad-brimmed canvas hat ; but 
the cut of his costume told plainly that he had run away from 
some maii-of-war — preferring the green hills to the blue waves. 
The broad lay-down collar with the blue stripe was enough 
in itself to stamp him a child of the sea; but he had removed 
from his hat the broad black riband on which the name of his 
ship had formerly been displayed, for he did not wish to carry 
such an evidence of his identity about with him. 

" We mustn't take this boy with us," remonstrated Hetson. 
" Don't fancy, my good fellows, that this is child's play. We're 
going to attack an enemy ten times superior to ourselves in 
number ; and thirty times, if the Indians join against us." 

" Please, sn%" said the youngster, looking brightly up into the 
alcalde's serious face, "I'm thirteen years old; and I helped to 
lick the Mexicans last year, that's the long and short of it. 
And please, sir, if you've the right to carry our old stars and 
stripes in their teeth, I'm sure I've the right to play ' Yankee 
Doodle ' in their ears — and I'll be hanged if I stay behind !" 

" Hurrah for Jim !" shouted the laughing men ; and Hetson 
shrugged his shoulders, and let them have their way. 

Just as they began to move, two men, evidently frenchmen, 
came towards them, while forty or fifty more came crowding to 
the entrance of one of the Erench tents, and stood there looking 
at the strange motley group of Americans. 

" Aha ! — the frenchmen are sending us a couple of deputies," 
whispered Hale to the alcalde. " If they were to attack us in 
the rear, it would be a deucedly awkward thing for us." 

Hetson made no reply, but stepped forward, fiag in hand, to 
meet the two envoys, who saluted him politely, and stood waiting 
for them to speak. Hale had not been mistaken; for one of 
them, who spoke English with perfect correctness, though with a 
foreign accent, began, — 

''Sir, will you answer us a question, frankly and loyally? — 
it will perhaps serve to prevent further disturbance and discontent." 

" Certainly, if I can do so," answered Hetson. 

" There is a report here in the mines," continued the Erench- 
raan, ''that the Americans intend to drive all strangers out of 
their claims and working-places; and, indeed, some Mexicans 
and Chinese have been already driven out ; although the govern- 
ment of the United States has, at any rate, granted, the privilege 



THE MEXICxlN FLAG. 



299 



of working, by requiring us to pay an enormous tax for these 
same claims. Is tliat true 

Monsieur," replied Hetson,— and the Americans came 
crowding round to hear his answer, — "the report is false. I 
have heard that some of my countrymen have proceeded to 
certain acts of violence ; but you may be assured that we shall 
not disturb riidet foreigners resident among ns : and whenever 
one of them has reason to complain of an American, let him 
come to me ; and I give you my honour I will see him righted." 

"Who wants the foreigners here at all?" interposed quar- 
relsome Mr. Eriars ; " they're only in the way, and we can " 

" Silence, sir ! " thundered Hetson. " What I have said I will 
maintain, so long as I am alcalde here ; and if any among my 
countrymen are rascally enough to want to enrich themselves by 
robbery, by Heaven they shall suffer for it, just as much as if 
they were the offscouring of any other place." 

His slight form seemed to expand with angry energy as he said 
it, and he looked at Briars with a glance which made the turbulent 
fellow quail and draw back discomfited, while several of the rest 
shouted, — 

"Bravo ! bravo ! It's a shame that such doings should be allowed." 

"I'm glad to hear it, gentlemen," said the frenchman, 
lifting his hat to them. " And now, respecting this tax, sir .P " 

" The tax is simple enough," answered Hetson, as quietly as 
he bad spoken before. "Whatever we may think about it here in 
the mines — that it is unjust, or that it weighs too heavily on you 
— has nothing to do with the question. The law has been passed 
by the government, and must be upheld under all circumstances. 
Whoever refuses to pay it must quit the mines ; and, as I have 
given you my word to protect you against all injustice, so I 
declare, on the other hand, that I will maintain the law, even to 
the shedding of my heart's blood." 

The frenchman looked at him fixedly for a moment ; then 
suddenly grasped his hand and said, heartily, — 

" You're a man of honour, sir ; and I will gladly do all I can 
to uphold your authority among my countrymen. You need not 
fear that any of us will undertake anything against you. But I 
would beg you to take care how you venture out with your small 
number of followers into the flat. The Mexicans arc determined 
to proceed to extremities." 

" We will not harm them, and are only going to take away 
their flag," answered Hetson, with a smile; "moreover," he 
added, in a graver tone, " wc are all in God's hand. And new. 
Forward^ my lads ! " 



300 



THE MEXICAN PLAG. 



"Hurrah!" sliouted the men. "Yankee Doodle there in 
front — play up Yankee Doodle, Jim 

A horse's hoofs were heard clattering up the street ; and as the 
people turned at the sound, an old man, with a long rifle on his 
shoulder, came riding in among them. 

" Hullo, boys he shouted, " where are you off to ?" 

"Oh, Nolten! Hurrah, old boy, you're just in time!" 
answered two or three jovial voices. " Get down from the old 
hoss. We're going to bring in that flag yonder." 

" No ! — are ye though ? Then I must go too." And the 
brisk old fellow was out of his saddle in an instant. " I've cer- 
tainly only an hour or so to spare, for my folks yonder are 
waiting for me ; but I don't see how I can employ that hour 
better." 

"Put up your horse somewhere or other," suggested Boyles, 
" and lay the saddle m my tent." 

"' No need of that, my lad," replied the old man, with a laugh ; 
and he laid down the saddle and bridle in the road, and let the 
horse go free. "My beast won't stray far; and the saddle's as 
safe here as in a tent, I guess. But let's be off, so as to be back 
by dinner-time; — fact is, I've had no breakfast." 

As he spoke, the little army fell into marching order, four 
abreast. Hetson glanced his eye over their number, and counted 
tv/enty-five. 

"And now, my lads, Eouwaed!" he cried, with gleaming 
eyes ; " but, on your lives, let no man fire a shot till our 
enemies attack us. Let the first blow or the first shot, on their 
side, be the signal, and each man do his best. I need hardly tell 
you to mind your aim, and not to waste a bullet. Are you 
ready?" 

" Hurrah !— all ready!" answered a dozen voices ; and there 
was a general waving of hats. 

"Mr. Hetson!" whispered a gentle voice; and, turning 
hastily, he saw Jenny standing at his side; but there was no 
trace of fear or misgiving in her countenance as she locked with 
womanly triumph on her husband, as he stood, strong in manly 
determination, at the head of the brave little band. 

"My dear child," said the alcalde, a little embarrassed, "this 
is no place for you." 

"And you were going without saying good-bye to me, you bad 
man !" 

" We shall soon be back ;— we are only " 

"Good-bye, then; I'll take you at your word; come back 
soon ; and God be with you ! " 



IHE ATTACK. 



301 



Slie gave him her hand, and stepped rapidly aside. There 
was another general hnrrah. Jim struck up the tune of " Yankee 
Doodle" on his little fife, and the drums, and tom-tom, and tin 
can accompanied him, with a remarkable disregard of time and 
measure. 

Boyles had not been able to work his instrument, because of 
the heavy gun, which impeded his exertions ; but he soon found 
a remedy. 

"Here, Tom," he cried, "just carry my rifle a bit," and 
thrust the long gun into his rear man's hand. "It's only till 
I've beaten in the head of this old drum ; but mind you keep 
close to me, for I shall want it in a hurry when the fun begins." 
And plying the drumsticks with all his might, he joined the 
noisy orchestra, which beat and hammered an accompaniment to 
the sharp shrill tones of "Yankee Doodle." 



CHAPTER XXIi. 



. THi: ATTACK. 

NevePv had a more whimsical party started on a grave errand. 
The people were all wild with glee, though they well knew the 
danger of the enterprise they had undertaken. 

They were not even particularly well armed. Only two-thirds 
of their number carried long rifles; the rest had revolvers; but 
nearly everv man wore in his belt a long, sharp bome-knife— a 
terrible weapon in a hand-to-hand fight. And thus, with then- 
honoured flag waving before them, the little troop started m 
double-quick time up the street, and turned off to the right 
across the fiat, making directly towards the camp of the 
Mexicans. . , • ^ . 

The strangers working in the flat looked up m astonishment 
as the strange procession swept past ; and the Mexicans gazed 
with still greater surprise as the troop came nearer and nearer. 
At first they thought the Trenchraen were coming across to 
make common cause with them; but the star-spangled bamior, 
and the sounds of the most inharmonious of all national songs. 



302 



THE ATTACK. 



which they knew only too well, soon convinced them of their 
mistake. 

Several mounted their horses, and rode off at full gallop 
towards the hills on which the Indians were posted, while the 
main body occupied the first open space above the pioughed-up 
surface of the fiat. The leaders themselves, undetermined what 
to do, went hurrying to and fro through the ranks, encouraging 
their men to stand firm, and trying to excite their scorn for the 
handful of Americans who were coming against them. 

Nearer and nearer came the defiant tones of "Yankee 
Doodle.'' And now they could distinguish the wild, sunburnt 
faces of the men, who redoubled their speed as they approached ; 
and on swept the tumultuous little band right towards the 
Mexican flag. The little fifer had almost blown himself out of 
breath ; but still he manfully kept up the measure, and stuck 
close to the side of Hetson, who, with the flag in his left hand, 
and his revolver ready cocked in his right, sprang across the last 
impediment that separated him from the enemy. 

"Guarda!'' shouted a hundred menacing voices in one 
breath. 

"Take care of yourselves!" shouted Hetson, in their own 
language, in a voice of thunder. " Whoever lifts a weapon is a 
dead man, and his flesh shall feed the cayotas in the woods. 
Down with your flag, you dogs, — who dare to disgrace the 
ground with its l^ung colours 

A number of Mexicans sprang forward with drawn swords, to 
defend the flag ; but Hetson stood with his lifted revolver beside 
the staff; and, giving his own flag into the hands of the little 
sailor Jim, who waved it with a shout of triumph, he seized the 
pole of the enemy's banner with his left hand, and shook it till 
it tottered. 

"Down with him! — strike him down!" yelled the Mexicans 
as they clustered round him ; but the revolver, with its sixfold 
death, intimidated those who stood nearest, while the rest 
crowded forv^ard in vain. The next moment the pole was torn 
from the ground. Eor a moment the Mexican flag waved aloft, 
high over the American banner itself ; in the next it was flung 
down and trodden under foot, amid shouts of triumph, by the 
Americans, who came rushing to support their leader. 

As yet not a shot had been fired ; but every one felt that the 
next moment would be decisive. 

Small as their company was, the Americans, most of them 
armed with revolvers and rifles, made a very formidable show, and 
stood their ground with great steadiness. The Mexicans knew 



THE ATTACK. 



303 



tliat death lurked in those polished barrels; and the close 
proximity of the enemy made the danger so mnch the more for- 
midable. Just at that moment, when Hetson had seized his own 
flag again, and even the hardy backwoodsmen's hearts beat thick, 
the little reckless sailor Jim struck up his " Yankee Doodle " in 
the very teeth of the Mexicans ; and the song had a magical 
effect on both parties. 

The Americans broke out into a wild cheer, and the Mexicans 
lowered their weapons, and stood glaring at their foes in dark but 
purposeless hatred. 

" Now's the time," w*hispered Hale to Hetson ; " we couldn't 
have a better opportunity for our retreat, and we've got the flag 
safe enough." 

" Not yet, sheriff !" answered Hetson, with a wild fire blazing 
in his eyes. " These fellows have their weapons still, and, by the 
God above us, I won't leave this place till they're in our 
possession." 

" Take care, I say, — take care," whispered Hale. " The Indians 
yonder have advanced to within fifty paces of us, and if we're 
driven back into the holes in the fiat, it will be all over with 
us." 

" Then we must advance, instead of retreating," replied the 
leader, with a scornful laugh \ and turning again to the Mexicans, 
he shouted at the top of his voice, — 

" You have raised your flag and appeared in arms against the 
authority of our Government ! You've thereby broken the peace, 
and we might shoot you dead, like so many dogs. But our 
Government will allow peaceable foreigners to live here still, — 
and only those who appear in arms will be considered as enemies, 
and punished. So, down vath your weapons, with which you've 
broken the peace. I'll shoot the first man dead who resists ! " 

" Hang it," muttered Briars to his next neighbour, " that's 
going the whole hog with a vengeance !" 

The Mexicans stood aghast at the audacity of the man ; but 
Hetson, thrusting the pole of his own flag in the hole which had 
received the Mexican staff, strode, with his lifted revolver, to the 
man nearest him, a gigantic fellow, with a face as brown as a 
berry ; and holding the six-barrelled weapon to his head, grasped 
the sabre which the owner clutched defiantly. 

"You've no right to take our weapons from us ! " he hissed out, 
with a look of deadly hatred at the alcalde. 

" God's death man !" replied Hetson, " my finger is on the 
trigger. I'll count three, and if you don't let go, you're a corpse. 
One, two " He felt the man's grasp loosen, and tearing the 



304 



THE ATTACK. 



sword from Lim, threw it down beside the flag. In an instant 
he had seized a second sabre; and Hale, always ready for a 
daring action, stood ready at his gide to support him. 

The Mexicans stepped back a few paces to consult ; but the 
Americans left them no time for deliberation. Those who had 
rifles presented them at their enemies, while the rest rushed 
forward with their revolvers to disarm them, seizing all the 
weapons they could lay their hands on ; but not a shot was fired. 
It soon appeared that the cowardly Spaniards really had not 
courage to resist the small body of determined men. Many of 
those in the rear even began to shirk off, and making for their 
torses, swung themselves into their saddles, and galloped 
towards the mountains. 

Meanwhile the Americans were gathering a rich harvest of 
guns, pistols, and sabres, as fast as they could lay hold of them ; 
while their banner floated above them ; and the shrill notes of 
the national tune told the approaching Indians, distinctly enough, 
who had been the victors on this strangely-won field. 

The beginning of the enterprise of disarming their adversaries 
had been the most dangerous part for the hardy little band of 
Americans. If an outbreak had occurred then, they would pro- 
bably have been overcome by superior numbers, however many 
of their foes their rifles might have laid low. But now that the 
first step had been successfully taken, and the ringleaders van- 
quished more by moral than by physical force, the rest no longer 
dared to think of resistance. All who could retire with anything 
like a decent appearance, got out of their foes' way ; and Hetson 
was too prudent to risk the advantage he had gained, by dividing 
his forces. 

Those who retired, therefore, remained undisturbed, and he did 
not even notice that a little troop reassembled a short distance 
up the hill. The fact that they had been obliged to give up 
their arms, though a few had escaped with them, had so quelled 
the courage of the whole body, that nothing more was^to be 
apprehended from them ; and Hetson knew very well that people 
who could suffer themselves to be deprived of their flag while 
all the advantages were on their own side, would never venture 
to act on the aggressive. There was, however, a worse humiliation 
in store for them. 

"So far so good,'' said stout old Hale, as he looked with 
satisfaction on the heap of swords, gans, and pistols, the result of 
their successful foray ; " I only wish we had the whole lot safely 
in camp. If we throw the whole heap into a hole and cover it 
up with earth, the fellows will most likely dig it all up to-night ; 



THE ATTACK. 



305 



and it's a troublesome bad to carry, especiaUy over this brckcn 
ground." 

"If we only had a mule. Hale/' observed Hetson. 

" Tell ye what, boys,'^ suggested old Nolten, "I'll run over into 
the camp, and bring my horse— though I shall have to take a Ion- 
round. But the Indians will let me alone, I reckon ; or if they 
don't, it will be the worse for them." 

"We'll pay them a visit presently, Mr. Nolten," said Hetson, 
with a smile ; " that is, if you'll all go vnth me." 

" Go with you ! " cried Nolten ; and he seized the young man's 
hand, and gave it a huge wrench. " Squire, I'd go through the 
world with you ; and this I can tell you— you've made my old 
heart jump within me to-day. We Americans ought to be 
proud of you, and I shan't forget it as long as I live." 

" I have done no more than all the rest," answered Hetson ; 
" and that none of us forgot himself — that no one fired a shot, 
though our guns were all loaded and cocked— did more to secure 
us the victory than if we had rushed headlong into a desperate 
fight. And after all, it required more courage to keep back 
here than to lay about one." 

" Well, I don't knov/," laughed Nolten. "Truth is, we were 
in a very ticklish state ; and if we'd once fired our rifles, I doubt 
if the sennores would have given us time to load again. So with 
that prospect, it wasn't so very difficult to reserve our fire. A 
bullet is precious soon out of the barrel, but it's deuced slow 
work ramming a fresh one down. Hallo, wherc's that bov 
off to?" 

The last exclamation was called forth by the conduct of Jim, 
the little fifer, who had thrust his fife into his pocket, and was 
running at full speed away from his friends straight towards the 
Mexicans. 

" Hi, Jim ! " shouted several of the men after him. " Stay 
here, and don't be a fool ! " but the little lad paid no attention, 
but ran boldly towards a couple of mules tethered near the 
spot. One of these he proceeded coolly to unbind. 

The owner of the animal, w^ho was not far oil", made a iVunt 
attempt at opposition; but Jim made him understand by a lew- 
words of broken Spanish he had picked up, and .still more by 
lively gesticulation, that he only w^anted to borrow tlie mule, and 
wouid bring it back, and so brought it away in triunipli ; and as 
Eoyles, and a couple of other Americans came forwanl to 
support their brave little favourite, the Alexican gave way. 
A few moments afterwards, Jim arrived safely with his prize 
at the flagstaff, and began, without waitiug for orders, to 

X 



306 



THE ATTACK. 



pack the various weapons in a thick bundle and to tie them up 
securely. 

Hetson, Hale, and Nolten looked on, laughing. The rest gave 
active assistance, and soon the whole stock was properly ar- 
ranged on the pack-saddle. The few loaded guns only had been 
left" out ; partly for fear of their going off, and partly because: 
they were wanted for those Americans who had no rifles of; 
their own. 

" And which way shall we go now ? " asked Hale. " We can'i 
get across the flat with the loaded mule, and to go round would 
be a good deal out of the way, besides looking like a retreat." 

" And to retreat is no part of our plan," said Hetson. " Gen- 
tlemen, we've not finished our day's work yet ; for we've still to 
see what effect it has produced. We must show the Indians 
yonder, how much they have to expect from their distinguished 
allies — the Mexicans ; — give me their flag." 

" What are you going to do, Hetson ? " 

" To fasten it under our own, reversed, and thus march straight 
against the Indians. Who's for going ? " 

" Hurrah for Hetson ! " was shouted by every man in the 
band, and in an instant the dishonoured flag was torn from its 
staff and fastened under the Apjerican banner. 

" Now, then, musicians to the front," said the alcalde, with a 
m.erry smile, " and keep close rank. But mind, not a shot is to 
be fired at the red-skins; I don't fancy they'll give us muck 
trouble. If they should be mad enough to attempt resistance, 
it will be time enough to beat them back. I'll have no Indian, 
blood spilt." 

Again the jovial troop set forth with their merry little "baby'* 
in front. The instruments of music were picked up from the 
ground, and as the flag was carried forward, the discordant 
sounds rose in worse confusion than ever — only held in something 
like time by the shrill notes of the ear-piercing fife. 

The Indians had drawn off in separate troops, each probably 
consisting of a tribe, towards the flat, when the Americans' 
advanced against the Mexicans — and if a fight had commenced, 
they would doubtless have taken an active part therein. But as 
the Mexicans remained so entirely passive when their flag dis- 
appeared, and still not a shot was fired in its defence, but, on the 
contrary, some of the Mexicans rode off into the mountains, 
they became doubtful whether they should assist those whom 
they had looked on as their allies. They became still more 
undecided when the hated strangers actually began to march 
against themselves. 



THE ATTACK. 



307 



There was evidently a doubt ^-hether they should stand their 
ground, or turn and run. The little troop with" its discordant music 
came nearer and nearer; and at last they began slo^Yly to retire 
before it. This was probably in obedieuce to a command fr-iia 
their chief ; but be that as it may, they drew of!" more and m^.re 
towards the wooded heights, their usual haunt ; and only when 
they had reached the shelter of the bushes thev were seen to 
stop, wa'jching to discover whether they were to ' be molested or 
not. 

Open enmity to them was not in Hetson's plan. He kncvr 
very well how those broTO sons of the wilderness had been 
wronged and oppressed by his countrymen, and could easily 
understand the hatred with which the Indians regarded them. 
He wanted only to show them that his people were prepared for 
any attack, and determined to resist every invasion of the riorhts 
which had, after all, become theirs by conquest; and this object 
he achieved completely. The Mexicans did not dare to follow, 
the Indians retired into the bushes, and the Americans marched 
round the flat, within a bow-shot of the forest in which the red 
men lurked — and thus reaching the road leading to the little 
tent-town, marched home in jovial triumph. 

Nearly all the foreign gold-washers who had been working in 
the flat, and had witnessed the attack upon the Mexican cam:\ 
had gone into the tow^n to see the Americans come in. The 
Frenchmen, in particular, were numerously represented; arivl 
! though they felt annoyed at the cowardice of the Mexicans, they 
I could not help admiring the bravery with which the little troo;) 
I of Americans had behaved. Themselves a brave people, they 
j knew how to appreciate the value of a bold attack. 

The Yankee dealers, wdio had stayed at liome to take care '>\ 
their goods, came out wdth loud cheers to meet their bray • 
defenders ; and even the foreigners could not lielp joining in tiiv 
general shout, as the American flag, unfastened from the fent- 
pole, fluttered up to the top of the flagstaff, wdth the Mexic:':i 
ensign reversed beneath it — blowing out bravely in the s\in- 
shine. 

At the same moment, Jenny came out of her tent ; an>l a 
proud smile overspread her pretty face, when she saw lier 
husband coming back well and unharmed from his dangerous 
expedition. 

"God be praised that you are back again!" she mnrmure 1, 
and held out her hand 'to ^velcomc him, with a tear m r.rv 



"You haven't been worrying yourself about me, my ce: r . 
X 2 



308 



THE ATTACK. 



cried her husband ; " there was no danger — not a shot has been 
fired, nor a blow struck." 

" Don't you believe him, ma'am/' struck in old Nolten, "for 
he's not telling the truth : there was not a shot fired, nor has 
any one been wounded; but no man could have undertaken a 
bolder thing, or carried it out with more courage and coolness, 
than did Hetson this morning, in the flat." 

" My dear Mr. Nolten " 

" My dear Mr. Hetson, it's all nonsense ; " persisted the 
old man. " I'm not a young man, and have seen a good many 
affairs of the kind, from which, perhaps, I'd much best have 
stayed away. So I fancy I know about what a single man can do ; 
and I will say, Hetson, you've done bravely and well, and like a 
true American, and I don't see why your wite shouldn't know it." 

Hetson blushed like a girl at the praise he had so well 
deserved; then, taking his wife's hand, he said to her good- 
humouredly, — 

" He wants to make me vain, Jenny — you mustn't believe half 
he says. We only went out against the Mexicans, and took 
away their flag from them. That was the whole matter." 

Mrs. Hetson's eyes sparkled with joy, as she gazed into her 
husband's handsome face, glowing with the healthy flush of 
exercise and action. And she answered in a voice of hearty 
affection, — 

" I know, Erank, that for my sake you would not run into any 
danger that your duty did not compel you to encounter ; and I 
rejoice from the bottom of my heart that you have succeeded 
so completely in what you undertook. But can you not give me 
half an hour now ? I have many things to tell you, and do not 
want to defer it." 

" Not yet, my dear girl," answered Hetson ; " you see how 
busy I am just now. As soon as I can, I wiU come back to you. 
Don't leave the tent, for the Indians are still hovering about the 
neighbourhood ; and after the way we visited them this morning, 
they may, perhaps, be rather unfriendly towards us. Ha, 
Siftly," he suddenly exclaimed, as the gambler appeared riding 
down the street towards them — at whose appearance Mrs. 
Hetson withdrew into the tent, — " you were employed elsewhere 
this morniBg, it seems, and could not join our expedition? " 

" As I see, you've brought in the Mexican flag," replied 
Siftly, in an indifferent tone. ''That was right — what did the 
fellows want with such trumpery ? " 

"Do you look upon a flag as trumpery, sir?" asked old 
Nolten, scanning him with any thing but a friendly glance. 



TEE ATTACK. 3Q9 

" Certainly I do/' replied Siftly, with a careless \m<r]i - 
" what else do call it ? " ° ' 

"My opinion is, that you ought to have been among your own 
people tins morning," answered the old man, sternly ; ''that is, 
if you call yourself an American." 

"I'm an American by birth, certainly," retorted Siftly, ''but 
i call myself a citizen of the world ; "" and as he spoke, he dis- 
mounted, and took his horse by the bridle. " Whoever brings 
Ms gold to my table of an evening is my friend : I mean, of 
course, so long as his gold lasts." 

Old Nolten turned his back contemptuously upon him, and 
said, loud enough for Siftly to hear, — 

" If all honest Americans were of my way of thinking, all 
fellows of that sort would soon be turned out of this place." 

Siftly certainly heard this plain speech. But he only darted a 
scornful glance at the old man, and said, turning to Hetson, — 

"By the way, I've something to tell you, that will interest 
you — you shall hear it as soon as that rabble yonder leave off 
their confounded ' Yankee Doodle,' and stop drumming on their 
gong. It's enough to split one's ears." 

" As you take so little interest in our affairs," answered Het- 
son, coldly, "perhaps you'd better get out of the way of the 
drumming and noise." 

" Thank ye," retorted Siftly, with his usual sardonic grin ; 
" but I haven't done with your Paradise yet ; besides," he added 
in a lower tone, "you should be the last man to accuse me of want 
of sympathy; for my absence in the camp this morning was only 
owing to my looking after your interests." 

" My interests ? " said Hetson incredulously. " How do you 
mean ? " 

''He has arrived,— he is here," whispered Siftly; and Hctson's 
face became pale as death, and in spite of himself he Iclt his 
knees shake under him. 

" How do you know ? " he stammered, seizing Siftly s arm. 

"I've seen him, and spoken to him," answered his frieiul care- 
lessly,— following the alcalde, who led him away a few paces Ironi 
the tent. 

'^ Here ?— In this place ? " ^ . . r * 

" No ; about a mile from here, in a shady spot in tlic loivst, 
replied the gambler, with a grin, "where an appointmcni iiad 
been made with an old friend of his, and her companion. 

"You lie, Siftly," groaned Hetson, whose white lips c .Ld 
hardly utter the sound. , , 

"Look here, Hetson," replied the gamo!er. vLm ready to 



310 



THE ATTACK. 



make a good deal of allowance for jour very natural excitement^ 
but be a littie careful when you use such language. I've said 
nothing that I can't prove." 
" Prove — how ? " 

" Through the testimony of your own wife. Just accuse her 
of it, and if — v/hat I don't expect — she keeps her countenance, 
and doesn't change colour, then let me repeat my words in her 
presence." 

Hetson stood silent, with his hands clenched, and the per- 
spiration breaking out in cold drops on his forehead. 

"Yes,-— she was there," he muttered at last. 

" With the Spanish girl, Don Alonzo's daughter, who was 
most likely aiding and abetting. Spanish blood, you know ; — 
^what's bred in the bone.' — By the way, Hetson, I've made a 
contract with her father, that she's to play a couple of hours 
every evening in my tent. The saucy thing refuses to do it ; 
but I know the law is on my side, and shall make her, whether 
she likes it or not. Besides, a word from you can very soon 
settle the matter." 

Hetson did not even hear what he said. He walked down 
the street by Siftly's side, lost in unhappy reflections, and gazing 
in an abstracted manner at the hills, without seeing even their 
outlines. 

" Don't take this too much to heart," — Siftly at last resumed. 
"After all, the matter, so far as we know, is of no consequence ; 
in fact, it's a fortunate thing that we've at last got the young 
gentleman face to face and foot to foot. You may depend upon 
niy support and assistance. It's really a fortunate thing that 
I came to this little town; I could not have arrived more 
opportunely." 

" And is he still here ? " 

" Most certainly. Do you think he'd leave the place of his 
own accord, and alone ? But I fancy I can find means to make 
him fmd his feet, unless Vv^e find it convenient to set his feet fast 
for him." 

Hetson continued to walk, half unconsciously, by Siftly's side, 
and they had already left the last tents of the little street behind 
them. But while Siftly was secretly rubbing his hands with 
glee, at the thought that he had now quite got the alcalde in 
his powxr, and could turn and tw^ist him as he chose for his own 
purposes, a singular change was being wrought in Hetson's 
mind. 

Until then Charles Golway had been to him a phantom, — a 
name of terror,- — always threatening him darkly from af ar^ — 



THE ATTACK. 



311 



eludiDghis grasp, and slowly, but surely, driviDg liim almobt to 
the verge of madness. While he tortured himself dav and niMit 
with anticipatmg when and where the man would cross his palh, 
and destroy his happiness, he felt that he was wearing himscll" 
out, — that the continual restlessness devoured, as it were, tlie 
marrow in his bones. Now the ugly dream had come true,— the 
man was there, and had stretched forth his band, as soon as he 
had arrived, to destroy the fabric of his rival's happiness, — but 
still lie was there. The phantom had changed to a thiug of flesh 
and blood ; the danger that had hovered impalpably above hiui iu 
the air, had descended to the earth to meet him face to face,— 
and with this conviction came a feeling of rest, — of self-depend- 
ence of which he had imagined himself incapable. 

" He has come ! " he muttered, as if to force the fact upon his 
own consciousness ; " he is here ! " 

" And what matter if he is, my boy ? " laughed Siftly, who 
gave quite a wrong interpretation to the words, clapping fletsoii 
on the shoulder. " That I am your friend, I have proved to you; 
so fling away all care, and depend entirely on me. The feilov 
shall soon wish that the ship in which he came had been stranded 
on a sunken rock, before ever his foot touched Californian ground. 
Well, what's the matter ? " 

''Leave me alone a moment," implored Hetson. "The news 
has taken me by surprise, and before I go back into my tent, I — 
I should like to think it over once more." 

"Well," said Siftly, shaking hands with him, ''only don'i ijc 
too hard upon your wife ; you may take my Avord for it, tlie 
Spanish girl is more in fault than she. So, you'll do as I sug- 
gested just now ? " 

"Pray leave me alone now ; my head is whirling, and at this 
moment I hardlv know what I'm about." 

Hetson turned away from him. ^ Siftly could not suppress a 
grin of triumph, as he called after him,— 

"Good-bye, we shall meet in the town presently/'' an.a ^i'ahIc 
back towards the street of tents. 



312 



MR. SMITH. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

MR. SMITH. 

The little mining town " Golden Bottom/' where tlie county 
conrt of the district was held, and in the neighbourhood of whicli 
a great many Americans had settled, was not very far distant 
from the Paradise, being separated from the latter place by a 
broad mountain-ridge, which likewise divided the w^aters of the 
Calaveres and the Stanislaus; still there was no settled road 
between the two towns, and the lumbering ox-waggons which 
sometimes traversed the distance from one place to another were 
compelled to thread their way through the forest, and sometimes 
even their drivers had to clear a way with their axes. But there 
was a bridle-path leading almost in a direct line from Paradise to 
Golden Bottom, beside one of the tributaries of the Devil's 
Water ; crossing the ridge at a " low gap," from whence a grassy 
slope, scantily covered with trees, led down into the valley. 

By this little tributary, as yet unvisited by the gold-seeking 
fraternity, two acquaintances of ours had been for some days at 
work, trying to discover if the banks of the pretty little stream 
might not conceal treasures like those which had been taken from 
similar situations. These two men were the young Count Beck- 
dorf and his partner, Pischer. 

The place was at some distance from the camp, and to save the 
time they would have occupied in going to and fro, the workmen 
had brought their breakfast with them, to eat it in the wood ; 
and certainly they could not have chosen a more charming spot 
than this retired valley, shut in by gigantic cedars and pine-trees, 
and spangled vdth flowers of every hue, — crimson, blue, violet, 
and yellow, mingling with the bright green of the tender grass. 

But gold-washers in pursuit of their vocation pay little respect 
to the beauties nature seems to have sown broad-cast over certain 
spots. The bush which stands in his way, though it be covered 
with the sweetest fruit or the brightest blossoms, must fall. 
The stateliest cedar under whose roots he suspects that golden 
grains may lurk, falls a victim to his axe, and the ruthless pick 
scatters blossoms and flowers in ruin over the ground, and the 



MR. SMITH. 



313 



spade showers down clods of red earth to bury them. What has 
the digger to do with blossoms and flowers ? Colour they have 
certainly, and balmy fragrance, but no weight ; and so he allows 
them to bloom and scent the air so long as they are not in his 
way. 

Our two friends had made sad havock among the floral wealth 

of the valley, and had torn an ugly stripe of brownish-red earth 
in the blossoming carpet spread out on either bank. The pretty 
murmuring brook, which had before glided so silvery bright aloug 
its pebbly bed, now ran in a turbid current of clay \ but the two 
gold-washers sat joyously among the ruins they had created, 
eating the provisions they had brought with them ; for this 
morning their preliminary work was done, and they were going 
to try the cradle, to see what their labours would yidd. 

Of the occurrences in the flat they knew nothing ; and, indeed 
they would hardly in their secluded position have heard a shot, 
if one had been fired. They had indeed noticed that the Mexicans 
had banded themselves together the previous evening, but they 
thought the intention of these former lords of the soil had been 
to quit the place altogether, in quest of some spot where they 
would be undisturbed, and evade the impending tax. They had, 
however, ww^dered at noticing an unusual movement among the 
Indians that m-orning. Several troops of the red-skins had passed 
them, without, however, molesting them in any way. 

As they sat comfortably in the soft grass, with tlieir breakfast 
spread out between them, there was a sudden crackling in the 
bushes, which made them both start to their feet. The next 
moment an Indian burst forth, with his fox-skin quiver and his 
bow ready in his hand, and rushed by, not three paces from where 
they sat. He himself seemed not a little astonished at the 
sudden encounter, for he sprang aside Vvith a yell of surprise ; 
but he appeared to see, at the first glance, that he had nothing 
to fear from the two strangers. Shouting "Walle, walle," he 
ran at full speed up the steep hill, and, less than tiirec minutes 
afterwards, disappeared in the forest at the summil. 

" What lungs those fellows must have !" said Count r.cckdorf, 
throwing down, with a laugh, the crowbar he had snatched up iii 
the first moment of his surprise. "I wondered who on cartii 
could be coming." . ^ 

^'Confound him!" answered Fischer, likewise laughmcr. i 
took him for a grizzly bear. It sent a chill all down luy back. 
It's no joke being attacked by one of those beasts. ' 

" Whatever could make the red-skin run so ? j>y t lie ^yay. tic 
was just as much startled as we were. If he'd jumpca aside 



314 



ME. SMITH. 



half a yard more, he'd have tumbled into the hole we've dug 
yonder." 

"I can't make out/' resumed Pischer, "what's the excitement 
among the brown fellows to-day; but there's something up, I 
know ; and I wish we had brought our guns, or, at any rate, your 
pistols, to keep them ofP in case of necessity." 

"Bah ! " laughed Beckdorf. " We need not be afraid of them. 
I've been in their camps, often and often, quite unarmed." 

" Well, they won't have much to do with the Americans." 

" No ; but they know very well how to distinguish between 
Americans and friends; and they like to deal with the * Ale- 
manes,' because they are seldomest cheated by our people. I 
don't think there's a more goodnatured race of men on earth than 
these poor brown devils." 

"And yet, it is said, they're always quarrelling with the 
Americans." 

" And if they do, who in the world can wonder at it ? !N"o 
Indian nation has ever been driven from its possessions, insulted, 
and abused, more suddenly and recklessly — at least, not since the 
times of Cortez and Pizarro. Everywhere else at least a form of 
justice was gone through, and the land was purchased of them, 
if they only got a trifle for it ; but here they are driven away as 
unceremoniously from their own ground as we in Germany should 
scare sparrows from a wheat-field." 

" Yes, and vje help too," said Eischer, laughing ; " for if we 
hadn't been digging and rummaging here for the last two days, 
that Indian might have shot a deer, and had a Sunday's dinner 
for his whole family." 

" If he keeps running as fast as we saw him go, perhaps he'll 
overtake one still," observed Beckdorf. " But what could we do ? 
If we had not taken this place, others would have found it out 
to-morrow ; and the result, in either case, would have been the 
same. These gold-pits are eating deeper and deeper into the 
land ; and the Indians are being driven, day by day, higher up 
into the Sierra JMevada. Whether they can keep themselves alive 
there or not, is a matter of indifference to the Americans. 
* They'll have to die,' say they, ' if they can't do any better.' " 

"If they'd cultivate the land," observed Eischer, "they 
might live in peace, and nobody would molest them; indeed, 
I'm sure the United States would give them every facility for 
doing so." 

" The old nonsense," said Beckdorf, " which the professors in 
the towns keep on droning about. You might just as well 
quarrel with a fox because his nature is foxy, and expect him to 



m. SMITH. 



315 



hire himself out as dog to a shepherd. These men have been 
created as they are, and God has given them tins land ; and wc 
haven't even the lame excuse, in taking it from them, tl.at \^-e 
have come to civilize them; for no man has either time or 
inclination to undertake any such thing; but it's an old question, 
discussed a thousand tmies, and never with any benefit to the 
poor Indians. The only consolation they have in California is, 
that their blood is not drawn from them drop by drop, as has 
been done in other countries. It will hardly take one year here 
to every ten elsewhere, for them to bury one another." 

Eischer sat for a while without speaking; but he soon 
banished both the Indians and the contemplation of then* fate 
from his mind, and cried out, briskly, — 

" I'm really curious to see whether we shall fmd anything this 
time. The ground looks well ; and that a few grains were i'ound 
in the upper crust of clay, is a very good sign." 

Beckdorf listened to him with a thoughtful smile. " It's a 
strange life we lead here," he said ; " and I would give something 
if the good people at home could see us as we sit here, or when 
we grub up the earth in the sweat of our brows, to wash out a 
few grains of the golden metal. Sometimes, upon my word, I 
feel as if I were working in a dream." 

" So do not I " — replied Fischer. If I couldn't sleep without 
digging up hard clay and rocking rickety old cradles in my 
dreams, I shouldn't think my life worth having. That the mode 
of living should seem rather strange to us, is not to be wondered 
at ; for it's not exactly the stvle of thing we've both been used 
to." 

'^'But it's a jolly life for all that," said Beckdorf; "and! 
wouldn't for all the world have missed my experience, even of 
the time when I hacked and grubbed about in the hard ground 
without getting anything, like an insane mole. Tlicre's the 
beautiful wood, and the pure fresh air, and the work itself, with 
its healthy exercise " 

"Enough to dislocate your arms," interposed Tischer. 

"What matters?— when the body gets so strong, llic nnnd 
too, remains fresh and active ;^ and, for my part, I wouldn't wish 
to serve a better apprenticeship." 

"Well, if you look upon this as an apprrnticesluj), said 
Eischer, laughing, " I wish we may fmd enough ni yonder hole 
to buy your articles, in the shape of a good-sized lump of gold. 
I'm sure it wouldn't be superfluous; for if our fiuancial con- 
dition does not very soon improve, our strong-box wdl not De 
difficult to carry." 



316 



MH. SMITH. 



"Bah!— what matter?" laughed Beckdorf. "At any rate 
we're earning our livelihood." 

" Thank you — that does not satisfy me/' answered his partner ; 
" for my intention is to get a little capital together, and to begin 
to do something."^ 

"Then I certainly advise you to begin doing something at 
once, without capital, and not to waste your precious time in 
digging holes here, like any sexton. Do you really thinlc we shall 
ever find gold enough to repay our labour ? " 

" Do you not think so ?" 

" No," answered the young count, laughing. 

" Then why, in the name of common sense, are you digging 
here ? " asked Eischer ; " and why did you come to California 
at all?" , , ^ , 

" Certainly I came in the hope — I may say with the firm con- 
viction — that 1 should realize a large fortune here in a short 
time ; and thousands have come over with the same ideas. I 
wanted to become independent of my family in Germany; but 
these fair delusions vanished into thin air before I had been here 
a month, and I am so far convalescent that I expect nothing at 
all. It's no great thing to get what we want from day to day ; 
and if we really find something worth having, why, I shall look 
upon it as an unexpected prize, and rejoice heartily at my luck." 

" With such principles, you must lead a very happy life here 
in California," said Eischer, laughing : " but, when I come to 
think of it, I haven't much to complain of, either. We've cer- 
tainly nothing but the bare ground to eat our bread and cheese 
and biscuit from — our clothes would be despised by any Jew ; 
and at night we liave to sleep upon very indifferent mattresses, 
with a dense and hungry population of fleas. But does any man 
among the mountains know what the word care means ? Who- 
ever takes thought for the morrow out here, except in so far as 
he hopes to find a treasure on that day ? No ; so long as a gold- 
digger has his health — and I don't see how any one can get ill in 
this air, except by his own fault — he is happy ; and though I 
think 1 shall tire of this life some day, 1 shall always remember 
it with pleasure. But now let us to work again. Deuce take it, 
vve're lying here like two great personages who have only to 
settle how they may best kill time." 

"And are we not great men here?" asked Beckdorf. *^No 
one has a right to command us here, or to tell us what we shall 
do or leave undone ; and that's more than half our great men at 
home can boast. But, as you say, it's time to go to work ; and, 
indeed, I am curious to see what we shall find in the hole." 



MR. SMITH. 



317 



They retui-ned to the scene of their labours, and Fischer sat 
down by the cradle, while Beckdorf filled a couple of pails with 
the earth heaped up on the mai'gm of the pit, and carried them 
down to the stream. 

"What are you laughing at, Tischer he asked, finding his 
companion chuckling to himself as he sat at his work. 

" The fact is, I was thinking of those two wonderful characters 
in the town yonder— the Counsellor and the Assessor— two 
excrescences of our German jurisprudence, whom fortune, in a 
frolic, has thrown together on this coast." 

You're right," said Beckdorf; "they are two strange speci- 
mens ; and the tenor singer would be the very man to make a 
third.'' 

" It's a pity that the comet has vanished ; but the comet had 
more knowledge of Kfe than either of them ; for, at any rate, he 
understood how to borrow. But how these three worthy citizens 
intend to exist in the mines, unless they can manage to do 
without eating, is a mystery to me." 

'•'They say the Counsellor has some means of his own," 
observed Beckdorf ; " and so he'll be able to keep his partner 

above water for a " He stopped abruptly, and looked 

sharply down the incline. 

"Do you see anything there?" 

"I thought I heard a noise; and when I looked up I fancied 
I saw a shadow fiit across the path, just by that fallen tree." 

"Perhaps the shadow of a bii'd of prey flying across the 
wood." 

"Perhaps," repeated Beckdorf, with his eyes still fixed on 
the same point; "and yet it did not look quite like one. 
Suppose the Indians should intend to pay us a visit after all ': " 

"Nonsense ! — a fig for the Indians. Shovel in the earth — so ; 
that pailful will do. This is what I call a division of lahour : 
while you're fetching a fresh load, I'll despatch this, and su the 
cradle won't stand still." 

"There's a horseman coming up the path," cried BcckJorf, 
after another look round. 

" Ah, that's an American — perhaps the new collector him.^fli, 
beating up our quarters to demand twenty dollars from every 
poor devil he meets. He won't get much from mc, tlioii.i^h. I 
shall declare I'm a citizen of the United States, and send him to 
San Prancisco to verify my papers." 

" That is no stranger," resumed Beckdorf, after a pau^c. 1 m 
sure I've seen that figure somewhere." i n • i 

" Mercy on us !— why, that's the gamble;, Mr. Smitl], 1 thinl: 



318 



MR. SMITH. 



he calls himself^ who had the affair with the Indians a little while 
, ago. It will not be a great loss for our town if he's going to 
take up his residence somewhere else. The fellow 's a scamp, 
out and out." ^ 

" He's coming this way." 

" Don't have anything to say to him," said Eischer ; let 
him associate with bis own set, and be hanged to him." 

So saying, Eischer began rocking his cradle again, and Beck- 
dorf went with the empty pail to their pit for a fresh load of 
earth. Just as he came back with his burden, the horseman rode 
up, and stopped near them. 

Mr. Smith had considered it far more desirable to ride off as a 
messenger to Golden Bottom than to trust his valuable life and 
his golden gains to the chances of an undertaking of which he 
well knew the risk. He had certainly noticed that many Indians 
were prowling about in the mountains. But they had all drawn 
off in the morning, in an easterly direction, towards the Mexican 
camp ; and, moreover, he had little to fear from them, as he 
was well mounted, and armed with a first-rate revolver. Besides, 
as soon as he had surmounted the ridge, he was in the territory 
of Golden Bottom, in the neighbourhood of which place many 
Americans were at work. 

So Mr. Smith sat very much at his ease on his horse, his 
right leg thrown over the pommel, side-saddle fashion, and 
whistled a ditty, seemingly compounded in equal quantities of 
"Yankee Doodle" and " VV'ashington's March." 

Swerving from the path to avoid a faUen tree that lay across 
it, he came close to the two Germans, and reined in his horse 
opposite them. Considering that he was a messenger sent to 
fetch his countrymen to the rescue, he appeared to take matters 
very coolly indeed. 

"Well, gentlemen," he began, in a very friendly and con- 
fidential tone, " d'ye find your work pay well ? " 

Beckdorf looked him full in the face, and then took up his 
empty bucket and walked off towards their hole. Eischer began 
to rock the cradle to and fro, without taking any notice of the 
question. 

Mr. Smith bit his lips till they looked thinner than ever, and 
cried out with an injured air, — 

" Well, sir, ^7/ opinion is that, among gentlemen, a civil ques- 
tion is worth a civil answer." 

" Among gentlemen, certainly," answered Eischer, drily ; " but, 
so far as I know, neither my partner nor I made any remark." 

"xlnd d'ye mean to say I'm no gentleman, sir? " screamed the 



HE. SMITH. 



319 



American, with a frown tliat made his cunuing little eyes almost 
disappear iu his head. 

" Now, ril tell you what, Mr. Smith," replied Eischer ; "we're 
working here, and have uo need to answer anybody's questions, 
except those of an officer of the United States government ; so 
I certainly shall not have anything to do with the gambling 
scamps, who go sneaking about the mines ; and if any one of them 
comes here with his impudence, I give you my word, Mr. Smith, 
that rU break every bone in his body for him?' 

Mr. Smith thrust his hand into his breast-pocket, where his 
revolver lay concealed; but the other German was coming back, 
and as Mr. Smith did not think it possible that any one could 
exist in California without concealed fire-arms of some kind, and, 
moreover, felt uncertain how far he could intimidate the two 
men, he thought better of it, tmtched his horse's bridle, and 
muttering something that sounded very like " d — d Dutchmen," 
rode off slowly into the beaten path. 

The two diggers laughed at him so heartily that he seemed 
half inclined to come back ; but he altered his mind again, and 
rode off swearing audibly. 

"Those fellows are like ulcers on the face of the land," said 
Eischer to his companion, as they looked after the gambler's 
retreating figure ; "and any one who judges the Americans by 
them, would have a poor opinion of the nation ; but fortunately, 
the more respectable part of the community think of them as we 
do ; and it's only here in California, and in the Western States, 
that they're allowed to carry on their tricks at all." 

" What did the fellow want ? " 

"He was kind enough to begin a conversation with me,— 
perhaps he wanted to do a little business by the roadside. It 
wouldn't be the first time one of those scamps has cheated a 
miner out of his gold, almost before it was out of the cradle, — 
but it wouldn't do with me. But never mind stopping to talk 
about him, I dare say he won't come across us again." 

Mr. Smith meantime had retraced his way, probably not intlio 
best possible humour, to the fallen trunk near which Count Bcc?k- 
dorf had before fancied he saw the shadow. As the latter went back 
with his empty pail towards the pit, he almost involuuf anly lookod 
up the path on which the worthy traveller was wondmg. Sud- 
denly he saw the horse start on one side, and the rider, whoso 
seat thou2:h comfortable, was the reverse of secure, lost his 
balance aid rolled out of the saddle, as a dusky figure sprang up 
just before him. , , , . 

He had not let go the bridle; but before he could jump up, or 



320 



ME. SMITH. 



even properly realize his unpleasant situation, Indians came 
starting from every bush, as if from the earth itself, — and the 
vrhite man lay pinioned and powerless before he could raise an arm 
in his own defence. 

Pischer, startled by the sudden noise, had also sprung up, as 
a terrified yell for help came ringing down the hill-side, 

" Confound it," cried Beckdorf, snatching up a crowbar from 
the ground ; " we can't stay here quietly and let the red-skins 
murder that fellow, though he is a gambler." 

" Don't think he would be a great loss," muttered Eischer ; 
" but — you're right. If we can do anything for him, we mustn't 
stay here. But if the Indians really want to take his life, they 
can cut his throat half a dozen times over before we can get up 
to them." 

As he spoke, he seized the sharp spade with which he had 
been working ; and the two men began scrambling as best 
they could up the steep inclme, till they reached the path, where 
their progress became easier. 

T\niile the American's screams of terror still resounded across 
the hills, some fi.fty Indians had gathered round him, and his 
arms were bound so tightly behind him with strips of bark, 
that he could not move them an inch. But he had caught sight 
of the Germans, as they came bounding along to help him, and 
he implored them, in tones of the most abject entreaty, not to 
leave him in the hands of these murderous savages. 

Beckdorf, lighter of foot than Eischer, had distanced his com- 
panion by about twenty paces ; and listening only to the dictates 
of humanity, he was rushing into the midst of the troop of 
Indians, when the whole body turned against him, and bending 
their bows, threatened him with a shower of arrows. 

" Come along, Eischer," he nevertheless shouted, undismayed 
by the demonstration ; " never mind their puny arrows — when 
we've given half a dozen of them a taste of our crow they'll 
listen to reason." 

Eischer had a very different opinion of these puny arrows. 
He knew that, discharged at such a short distance, they would be 
fatal, as the ponts are barbed and almost always break off short 
in the wounds they inflict. So he shouted to his comrade to 
stop. 

" Stay, Beckdorf ! " he cried ; " don't expose yourself more 
than is necessary — first, let us try v/hat persuasion will do " 

" Help ! Save me ! Eor God's- sake, don't leave me ! " 
screamed the unhappy captive, struggling frantically to free 
himself from his bonds, as he saw the Germans hesitate and stop. 



MR. SMITH. 



321 



" Shoot the rascals down like wolves — oh, that I could but ^,Qt 
my arms free ! Help ! help i" 

" Hallo, you people ! " shouted Pischer, in Spanish, as he carne 
panting up. He knew that some of the Indians — from their 
former dealings with the missionaries — would be sure to under- 
stand the language. " Hallo, there— you mustn't kill that man, 
you know ! " 

A wild tumult of voices, among which not a word was 
intelligible, answered him ; and above all the din rose the frantic 
scream of the captive, now almost beside himself with terror ; for 
a number of Indians had laid hold of him, and began dragging 
him up the incline. 

" This is a very awkward business," saidPischer to Beckdorf; 
" we are quite powerless against such a tribe of them, unarmed 
as we are ; and if one of us ran off to fetch help, wc could not be 
back in time." 

" Whatever can they be in such a rage with the American for ? 
They never attempted to molest us. At any rate, we can't let 
them murder him." 

"Why, he's the scoundrel who stabbed one of their tribe," 
answered Eischer, " and most likely they want to take revenge 
on him. They're in the right, sure enough; but still we must 
see if we can't save him. Most of them know me ; Til go 
among them, and see what I can do ; but do you keep in the way 
with your bit of iron ; for, angry as they are, I don't care to 
trust them too far." i , • i 

Shouldering his spade, Fischer now ran up the hill, and tried 
to push his way through to where the captive stood. Some of 
the Indians wanted to prevent his approach, but these were in 
turn held back by others, so that he soon overtook the group 
who were dragging the unhappy wretch along. The armed 
Indians, however, kept close to him ; and though tncy showed 
no intention to hurt him, they surrounded their prisoner, ami 
kept Fischer from approaching him. Beckdori, learing ins 
friend might come to harm, sprang up the lieight after him, and 
stood still between Fischer and the pursuing Indians, in such a 
way as to cut the latter off. When he saw that^, I ischer lollowcd 
the count's example; and the two young men held then- ground, 
determined on no account to let the Indians retire ^^n«PP«^^^;^; 

"I'll tell you something," shouted Iischcr, as they cam o 
close up to him, " and I know you understand me U^o.i 
don't let that man go, I'll split the skull of the first man ^^llO 

"Th™a Lling and crashing in the bushes above the.u ; 

Y 



322 



ME. SMITE. 



and when the Germans looked round, they saw another troop of 
Indians running down the heights. 

" Confound it/' whispered Beckdorf to his friend, " the game 
is up now. I think weM better rush in at once, and cut the 
fellow's bonds — then there'll be three of us." 

"Kesos!" exclaimed Eischer joyfully. "Thank God, there 
comes the chief, just at the right time. That's the most sensible 
Indian in the whole district, and he'll never allow them to 
murder the man: he knows well enough that the Americans 
would make him pay for it in the end." 

It was really the chief, who came bounding down the steep 
hills, followed by some twenty of his people. He stopped 
abruptly on seeing the white men. Pischer at once made 
towards him, and begged him, for God's sake, to speak to his 
tribe and prevent them from committing murder. 

Mr. Smith had also, to his unspeakable horror, recognized the 
chief ; for he knew what he deserved, and therefore had to 
expect, at the hands of Kesos. Erom that moment, he ceased 
to shriek for help ; but the desperate way in which he tugged at 
his bonds showed the violence of the fears that agitated him. 
He knew that if justice were done, he was a lost man. 

The Indians had drawn back at the appearance of their chief, 
who stepped up to the captive, and measured him with gloomy 
threatening looks, without at first paying any attention to 
Fischer's protestations and entreaties on his behalf. 

To-day he appeared a complete Indian, wearing only the short 
leathern skirt ornamented with shells— the dress of his tribe ; 
his head was bound round with a coloured handkerchief decked 
with eagles' feathers, the tokens of his rank. On his shoulder 
he carried a long single-barrelled gun. 

At last, slowly, and as if lost in thought, he raised his right 
foot, and placed it lightly on the breast of the prostrate prisoner, 
who glared up at him in an agony of fear, with eyes almost 
starting from their sockets. 

"Who should prevent me," said the chief, in Spanish, "if 
I crushed this bad man to death like a worm." 

" You wall not spill his blood, Kesos ! " urged Fischer, in a 
tone of mingled warning and entreaty. 

"How do you know that?" retorted the Indian fiercely; 

do you say he has not deserved it ? " 

"But you cannot, and may not, murder the man in cold 
blood," protested Fischer. 

" Cannot and may not repeated Kesos, with a bitter smile; 
" will you hinder me ? " 



MR. S:!kIITH. 



323 



" Kesos," said Fischer, in a calm, steady voice, " you know I 
have always been friendly towards you — you know that in the 
affair about this very man, I took your part ; but, for your own 
sake, you had better not spill the blood of this prisoner who 
now lies at your mercy. Think, Kesos, how many innocent 
people of your tribe would have to suffer for it." 

"I know," cried the chief gloomily, "that the hated Ameri- 
canos make no difference between guilty and innocent ; and if 
the Mexicans, this morning, instead of running to hide like 
cowards, had fought their foes like men, much wrong might have 
been made right to-day. But alone, we can do nothing against 
the fire-weapons of the whites — at least, not until I have taught 
our tribes how to use such arms." 

" And this American ? " 

"He shall not leave these hills unpunished," said Kesos 
sternly ; " he shall at least have us in remembrance as long as 
he lives ? " 

"What are you going to do with him ?" 

The chief did not reply ; but he drew back his foot, opened the 
coat of the prisoner, as he lay on the ground, and soon found the 
revolver concealed in the breast-pocket. He possessed himself 
of this weapon, took out the knife, and unscrewed the lock, 
which he fiung away as far as he could into the thicket, down the 
bill. Then he thrust back the useless weapon into its place of 
concealment, and called forward an old Indian, to whom he whis- 
pered a few words in their own language. 

The old fellow looked savage and angry enough, and his eyes 
gleamed Vvdth cruel delight as he looked down upon the prisoner- 
He was the brother of the man whom Smith had killed. But 
though he was chosen as the avenger of blood, he did not seem 
satisfied with the instructions given him, and uttered a few 
words of angry expostulation ; the chief, however, persisted in 
the command lie had given, and at last the old man jerked for- 
ward the string to which his sharp knife was tied, unfastened the 
weapon, and rushed upon the captive. The wretched prisoner 
beheld these preparations with the utmost horror ; and though 
he understood enough Spanish to glean some hope from the 
conversation between Fischer and the chief, all his Jiardihood 
seemed to vanish away from him. 

"Lotus seize the chief, and hold him," suggested Beckdorf, 
in German, to his companion. " He will be a hostage in our 
hands, and then they miist let the poor devil go." 

Before Fischer could make any reply to this proposal, Kesos, 
who suspected some intention of the sort, sl opped back a pace or 

Y 2 



324^ 



ME. SMITH. 



tw, and stood with liis loaded gun pointed at them. A surprise 
was thus rendered impossible ; and, indeed, it was now too late 
to prevent the punishment which had already descended upon 
the trembliug culprit. 

For while the wretched gambler yelled for mercy in a voice 
that sounded scarcely human, and while the Indians stood with 
their bows bent against the white men to prevent a rescue, the 
old man had thrown himself upon his enemy, and with two 
rapid cats with Lis knife had sliced off both the miserable fellow's 
ears, close to liis head. Then he spat contemptuously in the 
writiiing wretch's face, and turning away, threw the severed ears 
to a number of hungry bony dogs, which always prowled about 
among the Indians, and now fell greedily upon the sickening 
morsels. 

In obedience to a further command from their chief, several 
of the bystanders now loosened the bonds of the prisoner, 
down whose shoulders the blood w-as pouring ; and Kesos, 
turning to the two Germans, bade them tell the man that he was 
free, and might go home. But he desired them to warn him 
against falling into the hands of their tribe a second time ; for 
the natives had " seen his blood," and their chief might not be 
near enough to save his life. 

Mr. Smith had jumped up, directly he felt himself free. He 
looked as pale as death, and the blood pouring down on each side 
of his white face gave him a most ghastly appearance. In the 
first moment of his deliverance, he seemed unable to realize that 
he was indeed to escape alive out of the Indians' hands, and he 
cast wild, terrified glances at the bent bows and threatening 
arrows around him. But on Fischer's assuring him that for the 
present he had nothing to fear, and further advising him to make 
what haste he could to get to the settlement, he seemed suddenly 
inspired with new hope. 

His horse was grazing almost at the same spot where it had 
thrown him ofT ; and with tottering steps he ran towards it, now 
falling over a root, now stumbling against a tree. He heeded 
not the shouts of derisive laughter with which the Indians 
watched his progress — he thought not of his own blood pouring 
down from him in streams. In the saddle-bags, his horse bore 
the hoard of ^old ; and to secure that and his own life, he fled 
as fast as his failing limbs would carry him down the slope, 
seized the bridle, sv>^ung himself into the saddle, holding fast in 
front for fear of falling; and thus he rode back, as fast as his 
snorting beast w- ould carry him, into the camp he had just quitted, 
to seek protection, and, if possible, revenge. 



OLD FBIENDS. 



325 



CHAPTEE XXIY. 

OLD FEIENDS. 

We have for a long time lost sight of one of our old friends, 
namely, of Doctor Rascher, who had gone beforo the Hetsons 
into the mountains to pursue his botanical researclies. After- 
wards, when he should have "reaped where he had not sown" 
among the multifarious flora of the land, he intended to meet 
his friends again in the little mining town to which they were 
going. 

Accustomed from his youth to a regular and frugal mode of 
living, the old man had not many wants ; and tilled with zeal for 
his scientific pursuit, he thought it no hardship to take his 
chance of a night's lodging in the tent of a gold-washer — or, 
where no such habitation was to be found, he would even pass 
the night under a tree in ihe midst of the forest. The mule he 
used lor carrying his cooKing utensils, his coverlets, and his 
botanical specimens, would be tethered somewhere near, to 
browse on the fresh herbage ; and next morning, before the dew 
was off the grass, the old doctor would proceed merrily on his 
way. 

The gold-washers whom he met occasionally, or into whose 
houses he went, often wondered to see a man travelling about 
without a spade, pickaxe, or wash-pan, and whose only object 
seemed to be to fill a tin box with plants, which he tore up care- 
fully, roots and all. But the old doctor had such a friendly 
hearty way with him, that no one dared to say a contemptuous 
word about it ; on the contrary, even the go-:ihead Americans 
often deigned to point out places to him where they had noticed 
flowers and plants growing in unusual abundance. 

Thus he had been vagabondizing about for five or six days 
among the hills ; and so well was lie satisfied with his harvest, 
that he resolved to bend his steps towards the " Par.'uiisc." There 
he purposed to stay with the Hetsons for a short time, to 
examine tlie plants in the neighbourhood, and then to continue 
his wanderings. Yv' hither he went was to him a matter of in- 
difterence, so'^long as he found new prizes in his search. 



326 



OLD PEIENDS. 



So little care had he taken as to the direction in which he went, 
that he did not even know if the town lay to the north, south, 
east, or west ; and he was in fact looking out for some one whom 
he could ask for information on this rather important point. 

As he walked on, leading his mule by the bridle, beside a high 
wall of rock, he discovered a single gold-washer working in the 
valley below. He did not much wonder at this, for even he had m 
experience enough of a Californian miner's life to know that I! 
separate diggers, dissatisfied with the places at which they had 1; 
hitherto worked, would often take their tools and a small stock " 
of provisions on their shoulders, and go off into the mountains to 
dig in other spots, on the chance of finding a good place. If 
they succeeded, they would go back for their tents and cooking- 
utensils, and take up their quarters at the new spot. These 
wanderings in search of new mining-ground the people called 
"prospecting.'^ 

These men generally had a very good topographical knowledge 
of the neighbourhood in which they worked, and through which 
they had sometimes been wandering for weeks together; so 
Dr. Eascher determined to descend into the valley, and make 
inquiries as to the whereabout of what he facetiously termed his 
'^lost Paradise." 

On liis way downward, beside the sliady hill, he found many 
plants to engage his attention for a time ; so that it was almost 
noon before he reached the valley where the gold-vrasher was 
puddling about by the clear stream in quest of its treasures. He 
was working with his back towards the Doctor ; and the rattling 
and shaking of his cradle prevented him from hearing his visitor's 
approach. Dr. Rascher had come up to him quite silently, and 
was enjoying the prospect of the stranger's startled look when 
he should discover him in that lonely place ; so he led his muie 
very gently along to within four or five paces of the miner, and, 
suddenly stopping, called out " Good morning," in a louder voice 
than the occasion demanded. 

Instead of jumping up in a fright, as the Doctor had supposed 
he would do, the man sat quietly, without even turning his head, 
and answered, in German, as indifferently as if he had met an 
every-day acquaintance in the street, — 

" Good morning to you." 

"Well, that's what I call cool," muttered Dr. Eascher; and 
he stepped close up to the miner, to have a good look at such a 
remarkable philosopher. The man hardly looked up from his 
work — only when the mule passed close behind him he half 
turned his head, and asked " if the beggar kicked." 



OLD FRIENDS. 



327 



No/' answered the Doctor, witli a smile ; "he's a very good, 
quiet fellow." 

^ " Glad to hear it. Many of the beasts are very fast with their 
hind legs ; and the other day one of them gave me such a crack, 
that I couldn't sit down with comfort for a week." 

The doctor could not help laughing at the whimsical look with 
which this piece of information was accompanied. 

" Oh, it's all very well for ^ou to laugh," said the gold-digger, 
going on quietly with liis work. 

As Dr. Rascher looked more closely at him, he fancied he 
knew the man's face, though it was not an easy matter to distin- 
guish the features. The fellow had certainly not used a razor 
for at least six weeks, and he seemed to have forsworn the use of 
soap and water for the same period. The shirt, too, which he 
wore was innocent of the wash-tub ; and through the old battered 
straw hat, which had probably done duty as a pillow by night, 
wisps of light hair peeped out, as if looking in vain for the advent 
of a long-desired comb. 

It was a true but melancholy picture of a careless, indolent 
man, deprived of the stim^ulus from without to keep himself in a 
civilized condition, and wanting the firmness and self-respect 
which would have supplied the place of that stimulus, — a 
European, sunk to all the bad and disgusting habits of the Indian, 
without adopting one of tlie redeeming characteristics of the red 
man, — a self -neglected, degraded being, not peculiar to California, 
but to be met with also in many other wild countries, such as 
the back states of the Union and the Australian bush. Here 
he was vegetating, rather than living, in a dkty, savage style, 
and grubbing in the earth for gold. 

" Tell me, friend," resumed Dr. Eascher, suddenly, " have we 
not met somewhere or other, before to-day ?" 

" Not to my recollection, Doctor." 

" Still, it seems, you know me ?" 

" Why, yes," said the man ; " how should I not know you ? — 
we made the long sea-voyage together." 

"Ah, I remember — you were a 'tween-decks passenger." 

" I was one of the fools," the man burst out with quite a vehe- 
ment familiarity, " who were shipped over in that den of horrors 
to this confounded Califonium — paid my passage and all — and got 
nothing to eat but pork and peasoup." 

"But I hope you have been rewarded here for all the privation 
and discomfort of the passage." 

" Rewarded !— -I ? I should like to know how," grumbled the 
man sulkily. "I only wanted to get enough to buy the new nm 



328 



OLD PEIENDS. 



at Hesselbach; and here I've been grubbing about for seven 
weeks, working like a horse and living like a dog, and haven't 
got enough to pay for the corner-stones. If I only had the 
newspaper writers here who spread their confounded lies all over 

Germany, hang me if I wouldn't " And he gave his cradle a 

vicious shake, as if in illustration of what he would do to one of 
those unfortunate literati^ if he could only catch him by the 
collar. 

Though the Doctor smiled at his vehemence, he could not help 
feeUng sorry for the man, who sat alone in the wilderness, at 
variance with God's providence, with all the world, and with him- 
self. But the miner's company was not sufficiently agreeable to 
make him wish to stay long ; so he began to think of getting on 
towards his destination. 

" Do you know the country round about here, friend ? " he 
asked, after a short pause. 

" I should think I did," answered the man. " I seem to know 
every spot in it where there's nothing to be found. Just look, 
sir — there — and there — and here — and again over yonder. All 
those holes I've dug quite alone by myself; and there's room 
enough in them for a million's worth of gold, one would think." 

" I was talking of the neighbouring mines," 

"What are the neigbouring mines to me?" growled the 
German. " I've seen more of Califonium than I want to see." 

"So you can't tell me where the place they call 'Paradise' 
Hes?" 

"Paradise!" repeated the man; and he looked sharply at his 
questioner, to see if he was playing with him. " Well, if you're 
looking for a Paradise in this confounded Califonium, it strikes 
me you may look long enough before you find it. But if you 
should really come upon it, I do wish, Doctor, you'd contrive 
to send me word. Paradise ! — yes, a fine Paradise — Eldoradio — 
and all sorts of grand names they called it, too, in the papers. 
The devil take the whole country, as soon as I'm safe out 
of it." 

The Doctor soon saw that no information was to be obtained 
from this man, who had, like a mole, obstinately mined the 
whole of the valley. Still he felt curious to see how this crusty 
customer lived in that solitude. He had seen no signs of a tent ; 
and yet there was a fire close to where he worked, with an iron 
pot and two tin cans beside it. 

" Where do you live ! " he asked. " Don't you ever leave the 
brook? — do you stay here night and day ?" 

"My bedroom is just behind the tree yonder," answered the 



OLD FillENDS. 



329 



German, without rising from his seat. " If you'd like to see it, 
it's really "worth looking at ; only I've not arranged it properly 
yet." 

Dr. Rasoher crossed the brook on a rude bridge made by a 
couple of trunks of trees covered with brushwood, and, after 
looking round in vain for a tent, glanced back in doubt at the 
miner. 

" Behind the tree, I tell you,'* repeated the latter ; and a few 
steps farther on the Doctor came suddenly upon the cave of this 
wild German citizen. 

The entrance to this primitive apartment was simply a hole 
hewn in the rock, about three feet square, overshadowed by some 
bushes, which had been left growing there on purpose. To the 
right and left two little boards had been hung up, with inscrip- 
tions, very badly spelt, written in charcoal — the one setting 
forth that " spring-guns were set there," and the other informing 
strangers that there was " no admittance." 

The wardrobe was on the left as you entered ; that is to say, 
a peg had been driven into the pine-tree that overshadowed the 
entrance, and from it depended a cloak, which had once been 
pea-green, with innumerable collars ; while an old umbrella of 
green cotton, faded and feeble with age, leaned languidly with its 
broken handle against the hard bark. 

"And do you really live here?" asked the Doctor, rather 
astonished at these primitive arrangements. 

" Certainly I do," answered the German, stopping for a moment 
to fill his cradle with fresh earth. " If you'd like to walk in, 
don't stand on ceremony. That about the spring- guns is only 
gammon. I wvote it up in case one of the rascally Indians 
should look in while I was away, and come prying about." 

" Thank you — thank you," said the Doctor, who did not feel 
much inclined, from the outward appearance of the hole, to 
venture into the interior. " But if you were to fall sick here, all 
alone?" 

" Oh, nonsense ! " cried the digger — " never been sick in all 
my life — not even sea-sick." 

" Well, can you tell me the nearest way to some place where 
men are at work, or, better still, to the next dealer's tent ? " 

" Down by the stream," answered the man, curtly. 

" Well, then, farewell, my lad. I wish you better luck than 
you have met with as yet." 

"I couldn't meet with worse, at any rate," grumbled the 
man; and he turned again to his cradle, and resumed his 
work. 



330 



OLD PEIENDS. 



Following the course of the stream, the Doctor, after a march 
of two hours, reached a tent erected by an enterprising Yankee 
dealer. There he learned that the town of Paradise was five 
miles further on, and that a path led to it across the next 
mountain ridge. 

^ It was too late to get there that night, particularly as he felt 
tired with his march ; so he put up for the night at the Yankee's, 
where he got a tolerable supper and a clean bed, and the next 
morning set forward with renewed strength and spirits. 

He met very few passengers except gold-diggers, who wander 
about everywhere ; a few waggons were lumbering aloug, carrying 
provisions from the town into the neighbouring mountains. When 
he thought he had almost reached the end of his journey, he 
met several Mexicans, first singly, then in little groups, all riding 
armed, and in great haste. He accosted one or two of them, but 
could get no answer. The Mexicans kept silently on their way, 
some riding along the road, others turning off into the thicket. 

At last the lofty ridge was surmounted, and the Doctor looked 
down upon the beautiful valley, from a point whence he could 
see at a glance all the bustling life of the fiat. Astonished at the 
view which opened suddenly before him, he stopped, and did not 
observe that a man was sitting on a stone not twenty paces from 
him, with a double-barrelled gun across his knees, lost in con- 
templation of the beauteous panorama. He took no notice of 
the Doctor, and^ Eascher, when he presently became aware 
of his presence, made up his mind to ignore the stranger in 
return. 

"It's a queer custom," thought the Doctor," but one to which 
I shall have to accustom myself, I suppose, in California, for it 
seems to me a very sensible plan to take no notice of anybody 
whom I meet. If I speak to any one, except he expects to get 
some advantage from me, it's ten to one that I get a rude answer, 
or none at all. Every one goes through the world on his own 
account, — and, after all, it's the most sensible and natural way. 
I'll begin at once to acquire this habit ; we're never too old to 
learn." 

In pursuance of this resolution. Dr. Eascher sat himself down 
on a stone at a short distance from the stranger ; and though it 
was a hard matter for him to refrain from giving him a friendly 
" Good morning," he put great restraint upon himself and stared 
down into the valley with a look of perfect unconcern ; indeed, 
he found so much to look at, that he soon quite forgot the ex- 
istence of the stranger, and could never tire of gazing at the 
enchanting picture. 



OLD PFJEXDS. 



331 



He had been sitting thus for half an honr, when a well-known, 
merry voice suddenly called out, — 
^^Doctor!" 

He tui-ned quickly, and jumping up, and running towards the 
stranger, with a look of pleased astonishment he cried, — 

" Emile — Baron, wherever do you come from. ? 

"Erom San Erancisco, Doctor,'' answered the young man, 
with a laugh, as he held out his hand to his old friend. " And 
you may be sure I am very glad that you should be the first 
friend whom I meet here, but — you're going away ? " 

" Going away ! " repeated the Doctor ; Eve only just come. 
But it's rather a good joke ; I had determined to speak to no 
one on the road, and you were the first man on whom 1 was going 
to^ try my resolution. I did not know you at all in your cotton 
miner's shirt, as you sat on the stone. I took you for a Erench- 
man." 

And you've not been in this place at all yet, and know nothing 
about it," inquired the young man. 

I know," answered the Doctor, with a smile, that the place 
before us is called Paradise ; but whether it will prove a Paradise 
to us is a question we cannot yet decide." 

As he spoke he looked sharply at his young friend, and could 
not avoid seeing that he blushed slightly. Perhaps the young 
man felt that he looked discomposed, for he tui'ned hastily, and 
led the conversation into a different channel. 

" Now just look. Doctor," he said, " what a really beautiful 
country this is ; and to think that these lucky Americans should 
have won it so easily, with all the treasure it contains." 

" It is a charming prospect, Baron," answered the Doctor ; 
" but though I was happy enough out in the woods among the 
beautiful fiowers, a feeling of oppression always comes over me 
directly I see such a settlement as this. Gold, gold, and again 
gold! It's positively the only thing one hears talked about. 
The people think of nothing else, and therefore can have no other 
subject of conversation. The quality and yield of every hole are 
discussed, and the lumps found there are described. You hear how 
much this or that miner realized on such and such a day; how 
much another has scraped and grubbed together within a week ; 
and to any man who hasn't an interest in it, the whole subject 
becomes so nauseous that one feels inclined to pack up one's 
traps and run right away, to get rid of it." 

"But my dear Doctor," said the young man, *'you must 
remember that we are in California. You wouldn't go to a fish- 
ing-village and expect not hear about fish. In time, perhaps, all 



332 



OLD FHIENDS. 



this may change, but now we must even take things as they are ; 
and I will, confess to you that I rejoice in the strong young country, 
and have a hearty respect for its inhabitants. Erom what 1 had 
heard at home, I fancied the Americans a rough, speculating, 
tobacco-chewing race, always buying and selUng ; and to tell you 
the truth, I came over in the full expectation of finding my ideas 
verified, and have been so agreeably disappointed, that I look 
on the people with very different eyes. There are scamps enough 
among them, I know ; about as many, in proportion, as we have 
in Germany, only that here they don't go about in broadcloth 
and varnished boots ; but the fellows have a fund of strength 
and endurance, a persistence in what they once undertake, and a 
courage to execute the hardest and most dangerous tasks that I 
have ever seen equalled. I don't think we need adopt their 
horrible habit of tobacco-chewing, — but if we could take example 
by their patriotism and national pride, and could inoculate our 
people at home with a little of it, it would be a great blessing 
for ns ; and perhaps some day we might win a territory for our- 
selves where such a plant can grow." 

"But there are a terrible number of scamps among them," 
observed the old Doctor, — " more, I fancy, than we should find in 
Germany ; take for instance these gamblers." 

"Our scamps at home are not so brazen and impudent, I grant 
you, but they are quite as numerous ; and all the more dangerous 
because they are obliged to work out their knavery in secret. 
These gamblers, you must remember, are like the offscouring of 
cf the whole nation, — I may almost say of the world, not except- 
ing Indian Thugs and Italian bandits. — By the way, I never 
heard any more of that Siftly, from the day when I had the 
quarrel with him. He vanished like a spectre, and the only 
thing I heard respecting him was that he had gone off in pursuit 
of his runaway partner." 

" Yery likely. Well ! I am not anxious for the honour of his 
acquaintance," said Dr. Bascher ; "and I only hope we shall see 
no more of him. But can you explain to me, my young friend, 
why two flags are waving on the flagstaff yonder ?" 

" I've been puzzling my brains about that very thing for some 
time," answered Baron Lanzot. " The uppermost looks, as far 
as I can make out at this distance, like the American ensign ; 
but I cannot make out the other at all." 

" And there seems a good deal of disturbance in the city, if 
we can dignify the single street of tents by such a name. 
These inhabitants of Paradise don't appear to lead a very quiet 
Hfe." 



OLD FEIEIS^DS. 



333 



" Something must be the matter, certainly/' saidBaron Lanzot ; 
suppose we go down and see ?" 

With all mj heart. But what on earth has brought you to 
the mines, my dear Baron ; for I presume you have left your 
name of Emile down in San Francisco." 

"Yes," laughed his friend; "I've ^Yl♦apped it up in the 
waiter's napkin ; but earlier than that,— in fact, as soon as I left 
Germany, I left my title behind me ; and so, my dear Doctor, 
you must be so kind as to call me simply Lanzot. If you're 
determined on being polite, you may put ' Mr. ' before it." 

" You're quite right, my dear Mr. Lanzot, or Lanzot," said 
the old man, "in preferring this course. You are obliged to 
forget everything like title and precedence in a country like 
this ; for rank is a very curious thing, and can only be appre- 
ciated under particular circumstances, and in its own circle. A 
single soldier among a crowd of civilians has a strange appear- 
ance, and the glaring contrast of colours of his coat and collar 
seems to offend the eye; but among his comrades he looks 
picturesque enough. So you have done right to doff your title, 
like the soldier's coat, till you step back into the ranks in the 
old country. Now, too, it will not be so incongruous to see you 
with pickaxe and spade." 

" Bah !" replied the young man merrily, " they would at least 
be better in keeping with the baron's title than would the plate 
and napkin." 

"That's true enough; but it has always been a riddle tome 
how in the world you could have taken up with such a calling. 
I suppose you got tired of it at last, did you not ? " 

There was a slight blush on the young man's merry face as he 
replied, — - 

"' Why, certainly, I grew very tired of it. At last, I one day 
flung down a v/hole heap of plates at my captain's feet — you 
remember him, the little withered Frenchman, — and I threw him 
right across the table ; and so we parted ; and I fancy each was 
glad to get rid of the other. Then I went away from San 
Francisco to try my fortune in the mountains ; and as I knew 
that you were somewhere about here, and the name * Paradise' 
had a pleasant sound, I turned my steps hitherv»^ard." 

"On mi/ account ?" asked the Doctor, with a roguish smile; 
theq he added, in a more serious but not a less /rieudly 
tone,-— 

" Take care, take care, my dear Lanzot, and let this affair of 
yours with this Monsieur Ri'gault, or whatever his name is, be a 
warning to you. Connections are more easily made than broken. 



334 



OLD FRIENDS. 



and you must think that you are going to return to your own 
country some day. Don't forget this, and always keep the path 
of retreat open ; and do not choose a partner whom you cannot, 
if necessary, throw across the table with a clear conscience. I 
need not say more, I am sure." 

No, my good Doctor,'" answered Lanzot ; and I will cer- 
tainly remember your advice ; but now let us make haste down 
into the valley ; for, to say the truth, I have had no breakfast, 
and am deplorably hungry. Come, my good old grey, you 
will have a couple of days' rest, unless, indeed, we have to 
be ofP to-morrow. So, forward. Doctor, as quickly as you 
please." 

The Doctor had no objection; so on they went, each leading 
his beast towards the valley. 

There were no regular paths towards the different mines, with 
the exception of the one highway; and the waggons had to 
make their way through field and forest as best they could. It 
was not at all a rare occurrence that they broke down, or came 
to grief in one way or another ; and thus it happened that our 
travellers came upon some fragments of a small cart which had 
foundered there a short time before. The greater part of the 
wreck had been carried off into the valley ; but the front of the 
cart, with a single wheel, still lay there, by the trunk of a felled 
tree. 

Lanzot, merry and mischievous as a schoolboy, caught up the 
wheel, and turning to his companion, suggested, — 

" Suppose we set it rolling. Doctor ; what say you ?" 

"Do nothing of the kind," remonstrated the steady old 
physician ; " for the proprietor is sure to come back to fetch it 
away." 

^' Then, perhaps, he'll find it coming to meet him," said 
Lanzot, with a laugh. " I was always fond of rolling stones 
down a steep hill. I like to see them bouncing down into the 
valley;" and so saying, he gave the little wheel a swing, and 
sent it careering down the hill. At first it rolled merrily down 
the incline, which was not very steep ; but acquiring additional 
impetus from the wavy nature of the ground, its speed increased 
more and more, and instead of swerving to the right or left, and 
falling over on its side, as they expected it would do, it rushed 
in long leaps into the valley, skipped over a couple of low bushes, 
and disappeared. 

The two men had stood still in astonishment at the perform- 
ance of the wheel, and listening to the rumbling of the rolling 
body, which still reached them from below. 



OLD PRIENDS. 



335 



Suddenly there was a crash, and immediately afterwards a loud 
shout of surprise and terror. 

"Hallo cried Lanzot, in considerable alarm ; "I hope I've 
not done some mischief or other through my nonsense ! " 

"I hope not/' said the Doctor, also alarmed. "I trust the 
poor fellow who gave that shout is only frightened, and not hurt. 
But, at any rate, we must go down and see." 

Certainly," answered Lanzot. " If I've done mischief, I 
must pay for it ; at any rate, the wheel couldn't have tumbled 
into a glass shop, for there are none here — that's one comfort. 
I only hope we haven't damaged anybody ;" and, without another 
word, they pursued their way as fast as their beasts could 
follow. 

On that eventful morning the Counsellor and the Assessor had 
risen as usual to go to their work beside the mountain stream. 
But the disturbance in the camp made them uneasy ; and when 
they noticed the preparations the Mexicans were making with 
their flag, and heard from one of their countrymen who happened 
to come by, that the wood swarmed with Indians, they very sen- 
sibly made up their minds to remain quietly in their tent, and 
wait the issue of the affair. Their hands and arms, moreover, 
they thought would be benefited by an extra rest. So the 
Counsellor turned to the right-about, filled his pipe, and sat 
down in his usual place by the fire on a stump, with his back 
against an oak tree, observing to his companion, — 

" You can lay on a few bits of wood, Assessor — dumplings 
to-day." 

"A very capital idea. Counsellor," cried his goodnatured 
partner ; and he proceeded, at the risk of losing his spectacles, 
to pull and haul a heavy log into the fire : he had fetched it the 
evening before, with great labour, from the wood. The Coun- 
sellor looked on benignantly, without moving a limb to aid him. 
" A very capital idea," resumed the Assessor ; " and if we take a 
good rest to-day, we shall work all the harder for it to-morrow : 
so there will be no loss incurred." 

" None at all," assented his partner ; and, after a few more 
pulls at his pipe, he went quietly to sleep, while the Assessor, 
with unwearied industry, continued the preparations for their 
meal. 

The rest of our German friends, namely, Lamberg, Binderhof, 
and Hufner, had also struck work for the day, as they felt 
anxious, like the Counsellor, regarding the movements of the 
Indians. The two first of them, moreover, took a real interest 



336 



OLD FEIENDS. 



in tlie question of the moment, and were anxious to see how this 
quarrel between the Americans and this mass of Mexicans would 
end. 

The Counsellor and the Assessor, however, were profoundly 
indifferent as to all these transactions. The Counsellor slept 
like a cradled babe ; and though tbe sound of tbe gong and 
drums, and the unmusical strains of " Yankee Doodle " mingled 
fitfully in his dreams, they did not even make bim turn his head. 
Nor did the Assessor pay any attention to the disturbance, which 
he considered had nothing at all to do with him ; it w^as the 
business of the proper officers to look to it. If, indeed, he had 
been Assessor here, he thougbt, he would at once have investi- 
gated the whole affair, and drawn up a protocol of such a length 
as to strike terror to the soul of the most mutinous. But for 
the moment his business was to cook dumplings, with a delicate 
piece of an ox which Mr. Hale, the sherifF, had killed only the day 
before ; and he was particularly anxious that the Counsellor 
should be satisfied with his skill in cookery, inasmuch as the way 
to the heart of that dignitary lay through the region immediately 
below. 

Mr. Hufner was another who cared very little about the 
Americans and the Mexicans ; — he had much more important 
things to occupy him. 

He was considering, poor man, whether his mother-in-law 
elect had received his letter yet, and what she would say when 
she did receive it. He had even bribed the postman who brought 
up the mail once a month from San Francisco, and took letters 
back with him in the steamer to that city, in order that if a lady 
should ask him how things were up there, he might be sure to 
reply "Very bad indeed;'' and now he sat unemployed in front 
of his tent, with the image of his mother-in-law looming darkly 
before his troubled soul. 

What a noise and disturbance the Americans were making 
over yonder ! What could it all mean ? Lamberg and Binderhof 
had already gone off to see ; and, at last, he could stand it no 
longer. He determined to walk over to the Counsellor's tent, 
and ask that great man and his friend the Assessor to give him 
their opinions as to what he should do if his mother-in-law really 
made her appearance. He could not take her into his tent, that 
was certain ; as it was, Binderhof never let him be at peace for 
a minute ; and what was to be done ? — how in the world was he 
to pacify her ? 

The Counsellor was still asleep, and the Assessor did not dare 
to wake him ; but, in his endeavours to move about noiselessly, 



OLD FHIENDS. 



337 



he stumbled over a pine log, and fell just in front of the 
Counsellor, with such a crash tbat the latter started up in 
dismay. 

"I beg ten thousand pardons!" he nervously ejaculated. 
" Eact is — I tumbled down." 

The Counsellor muttered something which fortunately escaped 
the ears of his careful partner, and began pulling savagely at his 
pipe, which had, however, to be re-lighted, as its proprietor's 
nap had lasted for an hour and a half. 

Mr. Hufner nov^^ came forward, and after a few introductory 
remarks, explained the cause of his visit. His mother-in-law 
stood like an avenging fury before his soul ; and yet, poor fellow, 
he was unconscious of any crime. 

"Nonsense!" was the Counsellor's commentary — "mother- 
in-law ! Don't be afraid ; if she comes, set her to dig — all 
a lottery — glad to see her. Perhaps mother-in-law will have 
luck." 

" Yes ; but only think, sir, if she were really to come." 

"Yes, Counsellor, it certainly would be a dreadful thing," 
assented the Assessor, before whose soul the image of Mrs. 
Siebert rose with awful distinctness. 

"Bah — a couple of old women," grumbled the Counsellor, 
through a thick cloud of smoke. " Don't want to hear anymore 
of it — Dumplings ready ? " 

" In a moment. Counsellor," answered the Assessor, who had 
been trying the contents of the iron pot under peculiar 
difficulties, inasmuch as his spectacles became covered with 
steam and had to be wiped every time he peered into the seething 
mass. At last he succeeded in fishing out one of the dumplings 
with a wooden fork of his own manufacture, and, tasting it, 
found it exactly the thing. 

" Dine with us ? " asked the Assessor, turning abruptly to 
Mr. Hufner, and putting his long pipe out of his mouth. 

" Much obliged to you, Counsellor," answered poor Hufner, 
with a bow, " but my appetite is gone ; and since 1 heard those 
dreadful news I have hardly touched a morsel." 

" Preposterous ! " cried the Counsellor. " Well, begin, 
Assessor;" and taking on his knee the tin plate and spoon 
his industrious companion handed to him, he looked expectantly 
towards the steaming caldron. The Assessor, still rather a 
novice in his vocation, was going to lay hold of the handle with 
his naked hand ; but he drew back his palm with a shrill scream, 
and bundled off into the tent to find a rag, the Counsellor 
seeming inclined to use his cambric handkerchief for the purpose. 

z 



338 



OLD FRIENDS. 



That's the new alcalde do-wn yonder/' observed Mr. Hufner 
to the Counsellor. " I fancy he wants to come by here ; you 
will then see him distinctly. He is an American, and they say 
he's a very determined fellow." 

" Ah — 1 don't care/' answered the hungry Counsellor. ''As- 
sessor, where the deuce are you staying ? " 

"In a moment, Counsellor," cried the Assessor, who came 
hurrying out with a piece of rag he had brought with him all 
the way from San Prancisco. "We'll see at once how they've 
turned out — I only trust they're not hard." 

He was bending over the caldron to get a firm and secure 
hold of it, when a remarkable rumbling was heard on the moun- 
tain-side just above them. x\ll three looked up in surprise; but 
they had hardly time to jump out of the way, before the wheel, 
bounding upward from a little stone against which it had struck, 
and urged to railway speed by its long descent, swerved aside 
and came with a crash against the ill-fated caldron, the 
depository of so many hopes. 

Por a moment all was confusion. The Assessor gave a yell of 
terror, the Counsellor sprang up and let his plate and knife fall, 
and the hot broth hissed and spattered in the fire, while a shower 
of sparks and wood-ashes rose high into the air ; but the wheel, 
effectually checked in its course, spun round once or twice like a 
teetotum, and then rolled slowly past the alcalde, till a bush with 
outstretched arms stopped its destructive career. 

Hetson, who had witnessed the whole catastrophe, was not 
exactly in the humour for laughing ; still, the whole affair was so 
ludicrous, that he could not resist a smile, as he stepped towards 
the tent, to see if any one had been hurt. Moreover, he at once 
recognized the Counsellor and Mr. Hufner as his fellow-pas- 
sengers on board the Leontine, and he knew that Hufner spoke a 
little English. 

He found Hufner and the Assessor standing disconsolate by 
the ruins of the dinner ; while the Counsellor, breathless with 
rage, was giving vent to his anger in a torrent of invectives. 
Hetson, whose sharp eye could not distinguish the form of a 
single enemy on the face of the incline, jndged, rightly enough, 
that the whole incident had occurred more through a freak of 
some solitary traveller than through deliberate malice, and tried 
to impart his opinion to the Counsellor. Eut that worthy man 
was far too much excited to listen to reason. Hetson might as 
well have spoken to the wheel itself. The Counsellor danced up 
and down, stamping his feet on the ground, and reiterating 
threats and imprecations of terrible import, wherein such words 



OLD FRIENDS. 



330 



^^Criminal action'-dumplings---rascals--thieves--CaUfor7iu^^ 
and hanging— -^^QYQ the only intelligible items. 

Hetson had just made up his mind to let the angry man cool 
down as best he might, when two men appeared coming down the 
steep incline, and leading their beasts by the bridles. These 
were no doubt the aggressors; and as 'some angry passages 
might be expected between them and the aggrieved inhabitants 
of the tent, he stopped to see what would come of it. The next 
moment he recognized in one of the new-comers his old friend 
Dr. Eascher, and ran to welcome him with quite a shout of 
pleasure. 

" My dear Doctor ! " he cried, shaking the old man's hand 
vehemently ; " some good angel must have guided your steps 
hither. I don't know any one whose face I would rather see 
just now than yours." 

"Dear Mr. Hetson," replied Rascher, with equal glee, "it 
does my old eyes good to see you looking so fresh and hearty. 
But you're pale still — very pale : you've not been here long 
enough for the mountain air to take effect. But I shall soon see 
you perfectly recovered, and as strong as we can wish you to be." 

" Doctor, I've some important news to tell you." 

" I shall be at your service in a moment. I hope Mrs. Hetson 
is quite well and happy ? " 

"Perfectly." 

" Well, thank God for all things ; and now let me introduce 
to you a very dear friend of mine, Baron de — no, no, I mean 
Mr. Lanzot, who, by the way, does not make your acquaintance 
under the best auspices; for he it was wlio rolled dovrn the wheel 
which has, I am sorry to observe, caused some confusion down 
yonder. I hope it is not your tent." 

"No," replied Hetson, with a smile; "but the people are 
fellow-passengers of ours, and you've certainly spoiled their din- 
ner. One of them is that comical old fellow with the pipe — a 
member, I believe, of the legal profession." 

" Oh, the Counsellor," said Rascher, laughing ; " we must see 
bow we can propitiate him. I suppose the thing is not impos- 
sible. My dear Lanzot, let me introduce you to my good friend 
Mr. Hetson. You remember I spoke of him and his amiable 
wife when I recommended the young -Spanish lady to be Mrs. 
Hetson's companion." 

"Mr. Hetson," said Lanzot, with an honest blush, "I am 
happy to make your acquaintance, and am only sorry it should be 
on the occasion of such a foolish freak of mine." 

"You'll be able to make vour peace with your countrymen, I 
" z 2 



340 



OLD FEIENDS. 



have no donbt," said Hetson, smiling. " Now, Doctor, can I 
have a word with you ? " 

" You seem in a great hurry ; but first we must arrange the 
affair here. They'll believe me, an old steady man, and a 
fellow-passenger into the bargain,— when I tell them that no 
harm was intended, and that v/e're ready to pay for the damage 
we have done.'' 

Hetson was obliged to give in; and they went down together 
to the enraged Counsellor, who at first would not hear of any- 
thing like a compromise, and declared the affair should be the 
basis of an action at law. The proposal of pecuniary com- 
pensation he looked upon as an insult added to injury; but, 
luckily, in the midst of his Avrath, he had refilled his pipe, and a 
few energetic pulls at the sedative tobacco seemed to calm him 
down a little. 

The dinner certainly had become a total wreck. There was 
no hope of saving even the smallest fragment of it. But the 
Assessor, with his own inexhaustible good-nature, promised to 
provide another meal without loss of time. Mr. Hufner ran off 
to bring his own iron pot ; and, further mollified by the sight of 
these active preparations, the Counsellor was at length induced 
to stretch out the hand of forgiveness to young Lanzot ; which 
ceremony he accompanied with the following remarkable oration : 

"Well, I don't care — foolish tricks — rolling wheels down 
hills — almost broken my pipe — confounded California ; " and as 
the three men turned away, he added, " Stupid coxcomb — broken 
the pot — shook hands with him — ought to have kicked him 
out;" — and the Counsellor became mysteriously hidden from 
view in a cloud of smoke from his pipe. 



THE PEISONEB. 



3il 



CHAPTEH XXY. 

THE PEISONER. 

Bahox Lanzot soon saw that the American had something 
to say to his old friend in private ; as soon, therefore, as they Iiad 
left the tent, and the presence of the majestic Counsellor, he took 
his mule by the bridle, and walked on alone down the incline, 
the other two following him, deep in conversation. The old man 
had reason now and then to shake his head, and to interpose with 
a few soothing words ; for Hetson poured out his whole heart 
before him, telling him, in short excited sentences, of all the 
occurrences of the last eventful days. Still the Doctor found 
reason to rejoice at the change which had come over the whole 
demeanour of his former patient. 

This was not the hypochondriacal, undecided, despairing man 
whom he had known and pitied on board the Leontine, and in 
San Erancisco. His whole demeanour, his manner of express- 
ing himself, and even his ideas on various subjects, had become 
firmer and more independent. Even when he asked for advice, 
he seemed already determined to act ; and the remembrance of 
the past only hung like a thin mist over his spirit. 

One circumstance only had wounded him deeply; the thought, 
nay, according to Siftly's declaration, the certainty, that his wife 
had known of the presence of her former lover, and that — for 
what purpose he cared not — she had arranged a secret meeting 
with that lover. This part of the story Dr. Rascher vehemently 
refused to believe. He expressed his firm belief that though 
Mrs. Hetson might have accidentally encountered Charles Gol- 
way, she had never sought the meetmg. He strengthened his 
protestations on this point by giving his American friend such a 
sketch of Sittly as rendered any statement made by that worthy 
man very doubtful ; and now it flashed . upon Hetson's meniory 
that his wife had said she wished to tell him of somelliiug 
before he went out on his expedition against the Mexicans. 

On one point both the men were agreed, — that the Englishman 
must be compelled by fair means or by force to quit the place. 
If, as llascher firmly '^believed, he was a man of honour, he would 



342 



THE PEISONER. 



do SO of his Qwn accord ; if he refused, two courses were open : 
either he must be compelled to depart, or Hetson and bis wife 
must seek some other dwelling-place. 

Absorbed in conversation, they had reached the centre of the 
town, when their attention was suddenly aroused by a noisy 
crowd of people, who came thronging up the street towards 
them. 

Hetson, still uncertain whether the angry Mexicans would not 
after all hazard an attack, in conjunction with the Indians, 
begged Ptascher to wait for him, and hurried as fast as he could 
towards what seemed the nucleus of the tumult. This nucleus 
was formed hj our old acquaintance Mr. Smith, who, with mani- 
fest tokens of ill-usage upon him, with his face pale as death and 
distorted by pain, and the blood still trickling down from where 
his ears had been, was clinging to his horse rather than sitting 
upon it, and shrieking to his countrymen in a shrill, grating voice, 
for revenge against the Indians. 

The wild excitable fellows, with weapons still in their hands, 
were only too ready to respond to the call ; and there was a 
general call for Hetson, whom they looked upon with great 
respect since the occurrences of the morning, to lead them on. 
The only man who, amid all the uproar, maintained an appearance 
of perfect serenity and composure was old Nolten. Already pre- 
pared to return to his former working-place, and to his old com- 
panions, he sat on his raw-boned grey horse amid the throng, 
and when Mr. Smith stopped screaming for revenge, from mere 
want of breath, he said, coolly, — 

"Hanged if I raise a finger for the fellow, — and I hope all 
honest Americans will do as I do. If you hadn't killed the poor 
devil of a red-skin the other day, mister, you'd have rode through 
the Indians as safely as I intend to do in a quarter of an hour. 
As it is, it just serves you right. Eirst you ill-use the poor 
brutes, and when they serve you out for it, you com.e to your 
friends and squeak out for revenge. What surprises me is that 
they haven't taken your life ; but that you've had your ears 
docked just serves you right ; that's my opinion — old Nolten's 
opinion, — and if you don't like it, you'd better say so." 

He turned his horse, and rode slowly through the throng of 
Americans. Many voices cried out, — 

" You're right, JSfolten, the fellow deserved it," as he rode 
slowly up the street towards the mountains. 

Hetson was going to mingle in the crowd, when Hale came 
towards him, and seizing his arm, led him aside, and briefly told 
him of the affair under the last alcalde, as it had happened. 



THE PRISONER. 



343 



There was no doubt that the gambler had shed blood without 
any reason, and that the Indians vy ere justified in the revenge 
they had taken. Hale declared, for his own part, that he would 
do nothing at all against the Indians ; for as they had not got a 
hearing when they applied for one, it was not' fair to listen to 
the^ other fellow now. It was a pity he was a citizen of the 
United States — that it was. If some of the wild boys chose to 
go out to take revenge upon the red-skins, why, no one could pre- 
vent them ; but his opinion was that the alcalde ought to refuse 
flatly to meddle in the matter. If they thought the Indians had 
done them any wrong, let them complain in the proper way, and 
the matter would be decided by a jury. 

"Hallo, Hetson ! " shouted a rough voice, — and Siftly, with 
his pale bleediug partner by his side, and a noisy tribe of fol- 
lowers at his heels, came striding towards the alcalde. " You're 
standing there chattering and splitting straws ! Are we to stay 
here quietly till the red-skins come dovm upon us, and serve us 
as they've served him ? No, hang it all ! Better sw^eep away 
all the foreigners and these brown scoundrels from the face of 
the earth together, than let a drop of American blood be shed 
without revenge ! " 

Hetson glanced with mingled pity and disgust at the mutilated 
figure before him, and inquired into the particulars of the affair, 
which Mr. Smith proceeded to relate in his own way. But when 
he proceeded, interrupted at intervals by angry exchunations 
from the bystanders, to inform the alcalde how the chief Kesos 
Ibad robbed him of eight hundred dollars, a loud voice suddenly 
shouted through the uproar, — 

" That is a lie ! " 

They all turned in astonishment at the voice, and the next 
moment Count Beckdorf, just returned from work, with his tools 
on his shoulder, and wearing his red woollen mining-shirt and 
straw hat, stepped into the circle, and standing opposite to the 
alcalde, said boldly, — t it 

"If this man has reason to be thankful to any one tliat his lite 
at least has been spared, it is to the chief, about wliom he now 
lies. I was there, witness of the whole scene, though I anc my 
comrade were not able to save the poor devil from wliat has hap- 
pened to him. He must bear witness himself that wc did ail wc 
could. Not one of the Indians meddled with his gold ; and they 
did not hinder him from mounting his horse, whose saddle-bags 
had never been touched.'' . , , m, „ 

" I lost it-I lost it while they were dragging me up the hill, 
stammered the gambler, with a look of deadly malice at iicck- 



THE PRISONEE. 



dorf. " What do you know about it ? You don't mean to say 
you're standing up for the rascals." 

" I'm only standing up for the chief, who behaved honourably 
and well in the matter," answered Beckdorf, quietly. ''As to the 
punishment you received, that is your affair and theirs, and I 
give no opinion upon it. Eut there was no robbery ; and if the 
money had only been lost, it would be found again. But no man 
carries eight hundred dollars in gold or silver in his breast- 
pocket ; and vre don't deal in notes here. I fancied the gentle- 
man wouldn't tell the thing just as it happened; and so 1 came 
down to correct him if his memory played him false." 

*'And what the devil have you to do with the matter at all, to 
make yourself so busy ? " roared Siftly, unable to contain his 
anger at the foreigner's boldness. 

"Stop, Siftly," interposed Hetson, seizing his arm as the 
gambler pushed angrily forward ; " I am obliged to the man for 
the information ; for it has prevented our setting out on an un- 
just expedition, as we should probably have been obliged to do, 
if Mr. Smith had really been robbed by the Indians. Their 
having revenged themselves for the murder of one of their tribe 
is another matter, and must be decided by a jury, if your friend' 
chooses to proceed in the matter. Of course, I am ready to 
give him every assistance." 

"Are you, indeed?" exclaimed Siftly, measuring him from 
head to foot with a glance of contempt ; " it's a pity that we 
don't care to wait for your tardy help. Come, boys ! who's for 
going out and taking half a dozen of the red scoundrels' 
scalps ? " 

"A whole lot, I fancy!" shouted Briars, always ready for 
anything like a fight. "I'll go — we'll all go ! " 

" 0, we iro/i't all go, though," interposed another American 
drily. " Those who kick up shines in the hills can take the con- 
sequences ; besides, the fellow there — what a sight he looks with- 
out his ears, to be sure ! — I say, he can't have a clear case, or he 
wouldn't have told that lie about the eight hundi'ed dollars. 
They tried the same kind of thing over in Murphy's yonder. 
Hanged if I interfere with the Indians, for one." 

"Sobody asked you, Mr. Cook," retorted Siftly, angrily; 
"we don't want you ; with half a dozen good fellows, I'll under- 
take to lick the whole lot of them. Come on, boys, we'll teach 
the rascals to cut off white men's ears ! " 

A few of the most turbulent followed him, as he started off 
up the street ; but the greater number remained behind, and 
even of those who followed Siftly, several dropped off, either 



THE PRISONER. 



345 



from lack of interest in the affair, or because they were doubtful 
as to the rights of the case. It was certainly, as they expressed 
it, "confoimded impudent" in the Indians to cut off a white 
man's ears ; but then the fellows had been provoked first. The 
chief had always been friendly enough ; and, moreover, the 
mountains were swarming with the red rascals, and it was very 
uncertain what they might do. 

Count Eeckdorf stood with folded arms beside the sheriff, 
looking gloomily after the retreating group, when a hand touched 
him on the shoulder ; and turning, he saw two laughing brown 
eyes gazing at him. For a time he gazed in astonishment at the 
face he encountered ; he knew the features well enough, but 
among all the thousands of faces which he had seen in Cali- 
fornia, he could not for a moment identify them. 

"Honoured Count," said the stranger with a merry laugh, 
" you must excuse me if I take the " 

"Emile!" exclaimed the Count, scarcely believing the evi- 
dence of his senses, on finding an old friend in such a place, and 
under such circumstances ; — "is it really you ?" 

" As you see, alive and well ; but tell me, George, have you 
really turned miner ? You look quite the digger, in your red 
shirt and old straw hat, and with youi- right shoe all trodden 
down at heel." 

Beckdorf had seized his hand, and kept shaking it energetically, 
as he cried : — 

"Welcome a thousand times to the mountains, whatever 
may have brought you here ;— I never expected tliere was such a 
surprise in store for me as this ! Are you going to stay ? " 

" Eor the present, at any rate. I am on a cruise, Californian 
fashion, and am not bound to any place in particular ; here no 
man binds himself— it's not the custom." 

" Have you been here long ? " 

"About six months; and within that time I've been wood- 
cutter, clerk, boatman, mule-driver, and waiter at a rrstaur;uil . 
But now I ought to question you, in my turn. ^Vhat wina 
blew you out of the German drawing-rooms into this wilderness.-' 

"The same, most probablv, that swept you across,— tht; equi- 
noctial gale, which rose in Paris in 1S4S, and like a true thaw- 
wind, came from the west, and broke up the rotten old crust ol 
ice in our fatherland. I found I could not employ my tune 
better than in travelling." 

"And now you're at work here? " , , • i vnnr 

"In company with another German, lou ve not tried }Our 
fortune in the mines ? " 



346 



THE PEISONER, 



" Not yet." 

"So miicli the better. Then I shall have the honour of 
teaching you the noble art and mystery of gold- washing. You've 
time to come ? 

" I ? — yes — certainly. What could there be to hinder me ?" 

" Yery good ; then come with me to my hole. My partner, 
by the way, wdll be wondering why I don't come back ; and we 
can have a good talk as we go." 

" And when shall we return ? " 

" When the work-day is over/' replied Beckdorf with a laugh. 
"In this country one learns the meaning of the word, — we 
haven't much notion of it at home ; " and he linked his arm into 
his friend's, and marched him off along the street towards the 
silent valley where he worked. 

Cook, an old settler from the Western States, who, by speak- 
ing out so roundly, had prevented several thoughtless fellows 
from joining Siftly's gang, was meantime standing, where they 
had left him, leaning on his rifle, with his eyes bent moodily on 
the ground. His horse had become impatient, and was pawing 
the sand with its forefoot ; its master, however, did not take any 
notice of its uneasiness, but continued to look out straight 
before him. 

So Hale found him, when he returned, after accompanying the 

alcalde part of the way to his tent. 

"Hallo, Cook!" he accosted him, "what's the matter vTith 
you, man?" 

"' With me ? — nothing particular, only I'm annoyed that such 
a rabble as those fellows yonder should call themselves American 
citizens. Deuce take me, if I don't think the Australian convicts 
are better men." 

"You mean that Siftly?" 

" I mean the whole confounded gambling set of them," replied 
Cook, roughly. " The rascals are just like so many vultures or 
carrion crows ; wherever a pound or two of gold 's dug out of 
the ground, there they are ; and do they ever do an honest day's 
work themselves ? — not they. It pays them better to watch for 
any poor devils who are fools enough to try what they call their 
luck with them, and in the end they send them back to their 
work cleared out as clean as if they'd never earned a cent." 

"Well, but isn't it their own fault, the stupid devils?" 

"That's true enough, and I can almost say it serves them 
right ; but I do hate the cheating rascals who earn their living 
in such a sneaking, lazy way against the law. Why can't we do 



THE PEISONEE-. 



347 



here as the gold-washers up at Rich Gulch have done, and turn 
the whole lot of them out of the place ? What do you get by 
allowing them to stay here ? Did one of the whole gang so 
much ai shoulder a ritle this morning?" 

"You ask what / get from them?" repeated Hale. "If I 
had my way, out they'd go, and the sooner the better. But I 
don't quite know how to bring the matter before the alcalde, for 
it seems that Siftly is an old friend of his." 

" No great recommendation for the alcalde," grumbled Cook. 
" But what do we want with an alcalde at all in the matter ? 
We can't do anything legally against them, and the scamps know 
it well enough ; the only thing we can do is to turn them out. 
Now just see the mischief they may do if they come into contact 
with the Indians to-day. Who's to blame the poor brutes if 
they revenge themselves when they see a chance ? What should 
loe do, Hale, if we were they ? Tor my part, I reckon I should 
shoot every white man I found. This will be a great country 
some day ; but there'll be hard work first to get rid of the 
rascally fellows who prey upon it." 

"No wonder," said Hale, " for all the ruffians in creation seem 
to be flocking over here to try their luck. The authorities in 
San Erancisco are too weak to do anything against them, and 
the lawyers are nearly all to be bought up, and so are tlie 
judges." 

" That's true ; they've all come here to get gold in some way 
or other ; those who can't manage pick and spade, try it on 
with the quill. Devil take the quill-drivers ; I should hke to 
turn them out too." 

" I hope you don't include our alcalde ?" said Hale, laughing. 
"He's a man to be respected, I can tell you; he managed the 
Mexicans as well — ay, better than any back-woodsman coukl 
have done. But what are you about with your horse r— going 
away?" 

"No," answered Cook, "I've only iust caught him, and must 
manage to get a stable for him for a day or two, till the Indians 
have either gone away or grown quieter, or I sliall have them 
shooting him with their confounded arrows, and afterwards eating 
him up ; though the old chap would be a tough bit of goods too. 
Who's that fellow over yonder, who's been watchmg us lor such 

a time?" , , i i r, 

" I don't know," answered Hale; "he docsn t look like an 
American; I fancy he's a Britisher, He wants to si)cak to us, 
I think, for he's coming this way." i i 

The sheriff was right. The stranger— who had been looJaug 



348 



THE PEISONEB. 



not at the two men but at the horse — came up, nodded to them 

both, and then turning to Cook, asked, — 
"Is that horse to be sold, sir?" 

" To be sold !" repeated Cook. " Well, nearly everything is 
to be sold up here at the mines, — and why shouldn't the horse 
be sold too, that is, if anything like a price is offered ?" 

"And what do you want for him V 

Cook reflected for a moment before he answered. Opportune 
as the stranger's offer was, he feared, like a true Yaukee, to ask 
anything less than the buyer might be induced to give. At last 
he said, — 

"I think if you were to give eight ounces you'd make a very 
good tiling of it. I mean, of course, without the saddle and 
bridle/' 

" Eight ounces is a good deal of money for an old horse, and 
I only want it to carry me to San Erancisco." 

"Couldn't let it go for less than eight ounces," said Cook. 
"I've got another that I might let you have a little cheaper; 
but the brute 's grazing up among the hills somewhere, and I 
don't care to go after it so long as the Indians are about. If 
you can wait a day or two, I can perhaps go and look after it 
for you." 

"I should like to be off to-day," answered the other, "if 
I could get a horse to suit me. Can't you take seven for 
it ?" 

" Tell ye what, stranger, if you want a horse, this one is cheap 
as dirt at eight ounces ; if you don't, two ounces are too much 
for you to give. But I don't want to be hard ; so if you'll give 
seven and a half, it's yours. It's a sound, clever boss, though 
it's nine year old, — and will carry you to Stockton in a day." 

"D'ye think so?" 

" Call y/illiam Cook a liar if it don't." 
" Yery well, then, come with me into a tent, and I'll weigh 
out the gold." 

"Don't think we need do that; haven't you got your scales 
with you ?" 

" Certainly I have." 

" And so have I. Do you weigh it first, and I'll weigh it 
after you ; and if we're both satisfied, we needn't trouble the 
dealers about it. I don't like their weights. If you ask them 
to weigh off seven ounces, they're sure to make eight of it, and I 
don't want to take advantage of you." 

The stranger looked again at the horse, and seemed satisfied 
with its appearance ; then he stepped up to a large stone, which 



THE PRISONEE. 



349 



had been pushed aside so as not to interrupt the line of tents, 
and began weighing off the stipulated amount. 

" That's a Britisher who finds this place getting too hot to 
hold him," whispered Hale to his friend. 

" Yery likely," answered Cook ; "there's something queer in 
his way of speaking, and he looks to me as if he was more 
accustomed to the sea than to dry land. Well, the old hoss is a 
safe one, and won't run away with him or throw him off, so long 
as he don't ill-use him." 

The stranger had, meanwhile, weighed off the gold in his little 
scales, and piled it up on a piece of paper. Cook weighed it 
after him, and found the quantity right. 

" Good coarse gold," he observed. " Where did you dig it 
up ? " 

" Yonder, by the Macalome," was the answer ; " at least part 
of it; for some I got for my tools, tent, and other things I sold. 
You'll be kind enough to wait here with your horse a minute, 
while I fetch my saddle and bridle. They're lying in that tent 
yonder." 

"All right, stranger," said Cook, who was pouring the gold 
into his own bag ; but he kept a single piece in his hand, and 
looked sharply and inquiringly at his customer. The English- 
man nodded slightly, and went off towards the tent. 

" Well, good-bye. Cook," said Hale, holding out his hand ; 
"you need have no trouble about a stable for your horse now." 

"I don't know that," whispered Cook, with such a strange 
startled look, that the sheriff stared at him in wonder for a minute, 
and then exclaimed, — 

"Why, man, what the deuce is the matter with you ? You 
look as white as chalk all on a sudden. Are you ill ? " 

" Hale," whispered Cook, holding out the piece of gold for the 
sheriff to see ; " I know this piece of gold,— I know who dug it 
out — and who— parted with his life before he gave it up." 

" You know ? — and who was it ? " 

''Johns," whispered Cook, as if he feared that the very mud 
would carry the name to his murderer. 

"Johns!" cried Hale; "the man we found murdered up 
yonder in the wood ? " 

"Hush, — don't speak so loud, or the fellow will hoar you. 
You know we two worked together. I was sitting at t he cradle, 
he was standing in the hole and digging, and he iound tins piece 
of gold, — a little piece of quartz set into four Hakes of gold, as 
neatly as any goldsmith could have done it. I was going to take 
it among mine, but he asked me to let him have it, as he wished 



350 



THE PEISONEE. 



to send it to his mother, in the States ; and I am certain he 
would not have given it up for twice its value.'^ 
" And you believe " 

" That this man is his murderer, delivered by God's justice 
into our hands. If not, let him prove to us how he came by this 
bit of gold.'' 

''Are you sure of what you say, Cook ? Remember that the 
life of a fellow creature my be sacrificed through a supposed 
resemblance between two pieces." 

" Hale, I could take my oath as to the identity of that piece 
of gold,'' said Cook ; " it is not possible that nature could pro- 
duce such an extraordinary form twice, without the slightest 
variation. Besides, look at this hole in the back of it, — this was 
full of earth, which Johns scratched out with his knife, — and 
here the knife slipped, and left that little notch, which Johns 
afterwards tried to knock out with the back of the blade. Johns 
had two other pieces which I would undertake to know again, as 
easily as I do this." 

" That's proof enough," said Hale. " Stay, here he comes 
back." 

What are you going to do ? " asked Cook. 
" To arrest him, of course ; and a jury shall decide whether he 
is guilty or not. Are you ready to step forward as bis accuser ?" 
At any moment you like." 
" Very good, then.'^ 
Gentlemen, I have kept you waiting rather a long time," 
said the stranger, who now came back laden with his saddle and 
bridle and bags ; " but I had a little account to pay there. Will 
you be so good, sir, as to take your saddle off?" 

"Eirst answer me one question," interposed the sheriff, 
holding up the piece of gold. " Where did you get this 
from?" 

" That's a strange question," answered the Englishman, " par- 
ticularly in the mines, where a piece of gold may pass through 
six different hands in as many days. I don't even know if it 
really was mine." 

"I just this moment received it from you," said Cook, 
sternly. 

" Well,— is it not good gold ? " 

" Yes, it is certainly gold," said Hale ; " but I wish to know 
how you came by this piece. Did you dig it up yourself, or did 
you receive it from any one ? " 

" And what right have you to question me about it at all ? " 
asked the Englishman bluntly. 



THE PRISvONEE. 



351 



"I am tlie sheriff of this place," answered Hale. 

" Ah, that alters the case ; then you certainly have a right to 
an answer. Unfortunately I shall scarcely be able to give'you a 
satisfactory one." 

"Then it will be a bad thing for you," said Hale seriously. 

"A bad thing forme?" repeated the Englishman. "How 
so ? I have certainly dug for gold ; but latterly, after I had 
grown tired of the mines, and wanted to return to San Francisco, 
I have sold ray tent and my tools, and this very morning my 
horse, which had fallen lame. The last gold I got was for my 
horse ; but I cannot say if this particular piece was among it or 
not, — at least I could not swear to it, as I put all my gold into 
one bag. But what's the matter with the piece of gold, that 
vou should ask so particularly about its former owner ? Who was 
he ? " 

"A poor fellow," answered Hale, with a piercing look at the 
Englishman, "who was found here the other morning murdered 
and buried in a hole." 

" Murdered ! " exclaimed the Englishman, in a tone of horror. 
"Why, that's dreadful!" 

"rn tell you what, my friend," said the sheriff, touching him 
lightly on the shoulder, " you're my prisoner, and I advise you 
for your own sake, to make no resistance ; it could do you uo 
good, and would only make your position worse." 

" Your prisoner !— on a charge of murder ! — here ! "^ 

" If you are innocent, you will be able to prove it ; if you arc 
guilty, you must have known the consequences of your crime 
when you committed it. You look like an Englishman." 

" I an Englishman." 

" So I thought,— and you came over here from Australia ? " 

" No, — from Yalparaiso. 

" But you went there from Australia ? " 

" No,— from England direct." 

" Yery well, — all that will be looked into. Now 1 must 
trouble you to come with me. Cook, I must beg you to accoin- 
TDany us,^ and the alcalde will see to the rest." 

"Sir," said the Englishman, "there is some unfortunate 
error here, which must be cleared up ; but I cannot tell you how 
disagreeable it is to me to be detained just now." ^ 

" I can imagine it must be," rejoined Bale drily ; but there s 
no help for it. Mr. Hetson will soon settle the allair. 

"r^o will settle it, did you say?" cried the prisomr, m 
a tone of alarm. , . , , ^ 

"Hallo, sir," said Cook, who had noticed his gesture, 



352 



THE PKISONEH. 



"that don't look very much like innocence. Do you know the 
man?" 

"I've never seen him/' answered the Englishman, who had 
quickly regained his composure. Is he jour alcalde ? " 

"Yes; by the way, don't be alarmed about the hoss," said 
Cook, as the prisoner cast an anxious glance towards his pur- 
chase. "If you're innocent, it shall be at your disposal as soon 
as the juiy has acquitted you ; and if not, why, you won't have 
mucli need of it, for I reckon they'll make you walk the only 
journey you'll have to go." 

" Hetson ! " — muttered the prisoner to himself — and as he 
glanced again at the horse, the thought of liberty swept across 
his mind. What if he jumped into the saddle and fled ? Before 
they could overtake him he would have gained the forest — who 
"would be able to find him ? But flight was impossible ; for 
Cook, who seemed to have an idea that his prisoner meditated 
something of the sort, hastened to loosen the saddle-girths, and 
held his rifle prepared for action in his left arm. It was in vain — 
he could not escape his destiny. 

" Have you any arms about you ? " asked the sheriff ; " if so, 
you must give them up. I only do my duty; but that I shall 
do, you may depend upon it." 

" Here," answered Golway, after a short pause, and he drew 
his revolver from his pocket. " This is the only weapon I carry, 
except my pocket-knife." 

" Have you no other broader knife about you ? " 

"No; you may search me." 

"That will do," said Hale, pocketing the revolver; "the 
rest you shall hear from the alcalde. And now we must be 
moving." 



THE MEETING, 



353 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE MEETING. 

Doctor Rascher had kept out of the way of the tumult in 
the street. He had a constitutional dislike to noise and disturb- 
ance, and could not help wondering how people managed to 
quarrel so much in a country where there was room enough for 
every one to go where he liked and do what he pleased. Eut if 
they seemed to like quarrelling, he had at any rate no idea of 
mixing himself up with their dissensions : he had quite enough 
excitement without that. 

Hetson soon came back, and the Doctor went away with the 
alcalde to his tent, not only to see his good friends, Mrs. Hetson 
and her Spanish companion, but in the hope that he would be 
able once and for all to estabhsh the peace he had once ah*eady 
brought among them, as physician to Hetson's mind rather than 
to Ms bodily ailments. 

On entering the tent, they found Mrs. Hetson bending over 
Manuela, who, with white cheeks and tearful eyes, knelt on the 
ground beside her protectress. In the farthest corner of the 
canvass room sat Don Alonzo, with his head sunk on his breast 
and his hands folded on his knees— a picture of mingled rage and 
shame. He started up with a guilty look, when the two men 
glanced at him in wonder. 

Manuela, too, rose hastily, and was about to retire, wlicn her 
eye rested on Dr. Rascher. Mrs. Hetson no sooner saw him than 
she ran forward, her pale face radiant with joy, and both her 
hands extended. 

"Welcome, a thousand times welcome, dear Dr. Rascher," 
she cried ; " you come providentially indeed." 

"What has happened? " inquired Hetsou, who could not fail 
to notice the disturbance of Manuela and her father, while Dr. 
Rascher was vehemently shaking hands with Mrs. Hetson. 

"I will tell you presently," said Jenny; "you sliall know 
everything. But first, Frank, I must inform you, in the mTscncc 
of our old friend, of something for which you cannot be quite 
unprepared, but which -" 

"I know all," interrupted her husband; and the stem, searching 
2 A 



354 



THE MEETING. 



glance, witli which he accompanied the words, sent the blood 
careering in streams to her cheek and brow. 

"You know it?" she repeated in amazement; and then a 
thought flashed upon her, and she added, in a half-startled 
tone, " Yon know it through that man Siftly ? " 

Hetson, with his eyes still fixed upon her, nodded in acquies- 
cence. 

Eor a few moments she scarcely knew how to go on — for in 
the wild light in his eyes she read, to her horror, the old unhappy 
madness, the old pain and doubt, which had already threatened 
to undermine his life, and had made her so unspeakably wretched. 
But soon she regained her composure, and continued, in a voice 
of gentle reproach, — 

" And if he told you ecerj/tJungy he must have told you that 
Charles Golway would never have set foot on this coast but 
through your own fault." 

" Through mi/ fault ! " exclaimed Hetson, amazed at the 
accusation. 

" Through your fault," repeated his wife. " Did I not beg you, 
when we were in Chili, not to keep our destination secret? 
Your unhappy suspicion — oh, do not deny it, Erank ! for in your 
delirious ravings you have confessed all — your unhappy sus- 
picious gave a wrong interpretation to my words of warning.] 
You thought I wanted to leave a trace behind us, by which my 
former lover might follow me. It was your unhappy want of 
confidence in me that directed his steps this way, for, according 
to the accounts they gave him in Valparaiso, he thought we had 
sailed for one of the Australian ports ; and thus he followed the 
stream of emigrants to this coast, feeling quite certain he would 
not encounter us here." 

" There you have it, my dear Mr. Hetson," interposed old Dr. 
Rascher; "the very confirmation of what I told you before. 
You ran yourself into danger, if you had an honest and honourable 
man to deal with, — from a rascal you had nothing to fear, — 
besides, he could not be a rascal to whom Mrs. Hetson once gave 
her affection." 

" And what is to be done now ? " gasped Hetson, fairly on the 
rack with contending emotions ; " what is to be done to avert 
the evil which threatens us through his presence here ? " 

To be done ? " repeated his wife, with a melancholy smile ; 
" there is nothing for us to do, Erank. What could be done, he 
has done already. He is going to leave this spot ; and probably 
at this moment his horse is carrying him far away from us — he 
will never cross our path again." 



THE MEETING. 



355 



" God grant it," whispered Hetson, half speakino- to liimself— 
"God grant it!" 

" Now chis is just what I expected," struck in cheery old 
Dr. Eascher; "and so, mj good Mr. Hetson, you see that all 
your fears, which at last took the form of a dangerous illness, 
were foolish, and I may almost say suicidal, for you were destroy- 
ing the whole peace and happiness of your life." 

"Where did you meet him ? " asked Hetson, in a low voice, 
as his eye again sought his wife's countenance. 

"On the mountain yonder," answered Jenny quietly; ''I 
had ^one there with Manuela to enjoy the beautiful morning." 

" But you had never before gone so far from our tent." 

" True ; but that was just the reason. The fresh pure air on 
the mountains lured us to enjoy the view from thence. Neither 
of us had any idea that the neighbourhood was so disturbed, 
and particularly that there were so many Indians prowling 
about." 

Again Hetson was silent; but it was evident that another 
question weighed upon his soul, which he feared to put into words. 
But he could not contain himself. He felt constrained to sift 
the affair to the very bottom, and he at last nourished a vague hope 
that he would be able at one stroke to dissipate all his old 
fears. So with a determined, and yet a faltering, voice, he said 
at last, — 

" Jenny — had you — had you no suspicion — no idea that you 
would meet that man yonder ? " 

" Frank, — ^my dear Frank ! " exclaimed his wife in a terrified 
voice, "that question came not from your heart — some meddler, 
some interloper must have sown that suspicion in your brain. 
Have I once— one single time — been false or deceitful towards 
you ? Have I ever kept any secret from you for so mucli as a 
single hour ? " 

"And Manuela — she knew nothing about him?" continued 
Hetson, who was resolved to drain the cup to the dregs. 

" Manuela," repeated Jenny— and for the first time there was 
something like bitterness in her tone — " truly you arc an adcnt 
in the art of tormenting ; but I will answer your question siin})ly 
and truly. On my word of honour, she kncvv- iiDthiug- — not a 
word. Are you satisfied now?" 

Hetson was silent; and involuntarily his eye rested on 
Manuela, who stood trembling beside her protectress. 

"But what has happened?" he asked, as he looked Ironi tlic 
girl to her father. " What is the matter : Manuela had been 
crying when I came into the tent." 



356 



.THE :meetixg. 



"That mai]/' answered bis wife, "^yllom you call your friend, 
is a villain/' 

« Who— Siftly?'; 

"Yes, that is his name. With diabolical cunning he has 
lured that poor old man into his net again ; and when he had 
deprived Don Alonzo of the few dollars he had won by his hard 
work, day by day, he persuaded him, under the influence of a 
blind passion for play, to stake his daughter's freedom." 

"Manuela's ?" asked Hetson, in astonishment. 

"Yes, Manuela's," answered his wife, her eyes flashing 
brighter than ever with indignant scorn. "You know how it 
weighed upon her soul that she had to serve as a decoy in those 
dens of iniquity the people rightly call gambling-hells. To escape 
from that, she came hither with us, and felt happy in our simple, 
quiet way of living ; and now her own father has staked his child, 
and she is again to be a servant to that demon in human shape." 

" I don't understand you," cried Hetson, bewildered. 

" She is to play two hours every evening for a whole month in 
his tent — that is what he asks ; and he says he has a right to 
demand it." 

"AndMauuela?" 

" She says she will die rather than consent." 

W^hileMrs. Hetson was speaking, Don Alonzo had risen slowly 
from his chair ; and though he spoke English very imperfectly, 
he understood it well enough to know what they were talking 
about. He came up to the American, who looked at him in 
mingled scorn and pity, and, seizing his arm, he exclaimed, 
passionately, in his own language, — 

" Senor, your wife has told you the truth ; but, believe me, by 
all that is holy, the man played false." 

"And does that excuse you, senor?" asked Hetson, — "does 
that make the action, by which you would have consigned your 
daughter to the old misery, a laudable one ?" 

" I did not think of that," groaned the old man, wringing his 
hands in impotent despair; "I only wanted to fly from this 
dreadful country ; and the three hundred dollars which he staked 
would have taken me home with my child." 

"And now ?" asked Hetson coldly. 

"God alone knows what will become of us," groaned the 
unhappy father, hiding his shrunken face in his hands. 

" And does the law give the gambler any power over the young 
lady?" asked Dr. Rascher anxiously; while Manuela fixed her 
eyes upon the alcalde's, as if she expected to hear her death- 
warrant from his lips. 



THE MEETIXG. 



357 



■ *'How old is Manuela ?" lie asked. 
" Eighteen years." 

■ The alcalde was silent, and there was a painful pause in the 
room. 

Again Don Monzo rose, grasped the alcalde's arrn, and said, in 
a voice almost inaudible from anguish, — 

" Senor, I cannot describe to you what I have suffered this past 
night. I dreaded the dawn, like the criminal who knows that the 
executioner will come at sunrise. I wept and prayed; and in my 
agony of grief I vowed, with a strong resolution, never more to 
touch a card. Pray intercede for me with your countryman, that 
he may not insist on the bargain we have made, and from dawn 
till midnight I will work, till 1 have paid the three hundred dollars 
which apparently, though not in reality, he staked against me. 
I know he deceived me ; but in the eyes of the world I am his 
debtor." 

"Father! — my dear, dear father!" sobbed poor Manuela, 
running to him, and hiding her head on his breast. 

A wild uproar outside the tent made them all start up ; and 
the next moment the canvass curtain was pushed aside, and 
Hale's round face looked into the apartment. 

"Beg pardon for disturbing you, ladies," he began, "but the 
affair is of consequence. Squire, we've got a man here against 
whom there's a grave suspicion that he was the man who robbed 
and murdered that poor fellow Johns. Here, sir, please step 
forward ; and if " 

"Charles!" exclaimed Mrs. Hetson, almost in a shriek, and 
clutched the back of the nearest chair to prevent herself from 
falling. 

Hetson started at the name, as if a musket-ball had struck 
him ; but there was no change in the expression of his marble 
features ; his cold, dark eye only wandered restlessly from his 
wife to the prisoner, and back again. 

Golway, too, was pale ; but he met the eye of the judge with 
a firm and almost a sad look. Thus the two men stood for a time 
silently gazing at one another. A number of miners had attempted, 
in their usual unceremonious fashion, to crowd into the tent. 
Hale ordered them back, but could not prevent one or other of 
them, every now and then, from raising the curtain at the 
entrance of the tent, to give a peep at what was going on 
within. 

At length Hetson turned gravely, but not unkindly, to his 
wife, and said,— 

"My dear, you see that this is, at the present moment, 



358 



THE MEETING. 



no place for women. I must beg you and Manuela to 
retire." 

" And do you take Charles Golway for a murderer, Frank ? 
Do you believe for one moment that he could be guilty of sucli a 
deed asked Jenny, in a voice stifled by anxiety and distress. 

"He shall have justice,'^ answered the alcalde coldly. "If 
he is really innocent, he has as little to fear from us as from a 
jury in his own country ; but if guilty, he should suifer, if he 
were my own brother." 

Mrs. Hetson still lingered ; she seemed unable to tear herself 
from the spot where she stood ; but she felt that her presence 
was not only superfluous, but even objectionable ; so, taking 
Manuela's hand, she left the room with her companion, without 
trusting herself to look round. 

"Mr. Hetson," said the prisoner, who had followed them 
with his eyes till the curtain fell behind them, " I need not tell 
you that our meeting is an involuntary one. Your own sheriff 
will bear witness for me on that point. But, I assure you, I 
deeply deplore having disturbed your domestic peace. But for 
this unhappy error, I should have been riding towards the nearest 
harbour at the present moment." 

"That's true, at any rate," cried Cook, who, with several 
others, had made his way into the tent. " I can swear to the 
fact that he wanted to be off." 

" Mr. Golway — for that is your name, I understand," — began 
the alcalde, who preserved an appearance of imperturbable 
calmness. 

" Charles Golway," replied the Englishman, with a slight bow. 

" Mr. Golway, 1 need scarcely assure you, after all that has 
passed, that it is very painful to me to meet you in this position. 
Nevertheless, as alcalde of this district, I have my duty to do, 
and must now proceed in the usual course." 

The prisoner bowed again, and the alcalde continued, turning 
to Hale, — 

" What grounds have you, sheriff, for such a serious suspicion 
against this man, and who is his accuser ? " 

Hale had listened with some surprise to the conversation 
between the judge and the prisoner, though of course he could 
not understand its drift. It was plain enough that they knew 
each other, and that neither of them rejoiced to meet the other. 
But that was nothing to him. The alcalde's question was plain 
enough, and Hale replied just as concisely : 

" His accuser is James Cook here, an honest farmer from the 
States : I can speak to his respectability." 



THE MEETING. 



359 



" And what have you to say against the man, Mr. Cook ? " 

" Only this, squire/' answered the farmer, " that I found liiiu 
in possession of this piece of gold, which I dug out a short time 
ago, in company with Johns ; and with which I know Johns, 
poor fellow, would never have parted while he had life— not for 
twice or three times its value,-~for he wanted to save it for his 
mother, or to send it to her/' 

And how came this piece of gold into your possession, ^Mr. 
Golway ? " 

"The question seems to be a very plain one," answered the 
prisoner, " and yet it's not easy for me to answer. Go into any 
dealer's tent, and take a piece of gold out of his bag, and then 
ask him from whom he got that particular bit. He'll say, most 
probably, as I do now, — ' I can't tell ; I cannot undertake to 
examine each separate piece before I put it into the scale.' " 

" You are not a dealer ? " 

" Granted ; but within the last few days, before I left my last 
working-place, I sold my cradle, my tools, my tent and bed, and 
various other things, to different people, and received all kinds 
of gold in payment. I'm very sorry that any poor fellow should 
have been murdered : but I am guiltless in the matter, and only 
a misunderstanding could have raised this suspicion against me. 
I can't blame the people for demanding an explanation, but I 
now call upon you to conclude the whole affair. I am neither a 
robber nor a murderer; and want no further favour than to bo 
allowed to pursue my way in peace to the nearest harbour — San 
Trancisco — ^where I intend to embark at once." 

"I haven't the least doubt of it," Hale struck in; "but just 
to prevent your ' embarking ' in such a hurry, we've laid you by 
the heels. Cook is ready to swear that tliis piece of gold 
belonged to the murdered man, in whose hands he saw it only a 
few days ago ; and until you can show us from wlioin you 
received it, we must look upon you as the man who took it from 
poor Johns." . . ^ 

"And there has been enough American blood spilt in Cali- 
fornia," cried Cook, 'Ho make us look a little more closely at 
the goings-on of you strangers; and those among you who are 
honest men, can't say we're wrong. So long as j'jighind— and 
in fact all Europe — sends its rascals over to America you 
can't wonder that the Americans don't think mueli of .sueli 
strangers when they meet them. You can't tell, by just looking 
at a fellow, what he is; and when we get such strong cvk rnrc 
as we've got here, I think we should l)e worse tliaii lools ii ^^e 
didn't keep our bird, now we've caught Inm." 



360 



THE MEETING, 



"Do you consider me capable of such a crime, Mr. Hetson? 
asked the prisoner, turning half angrily to the alcalde. 

"My own opinion, sir," answered the judge, "whether 
favourable to you or the contrary, has nothing to do with the 
case. We are here on Californian soil, and under Californian 
laws, and to these we must submit ourselves. Anything that I 
can do, in assisting you to produce proofs of your innocence, I 
will gladly undertake — in fact, it is my duty ; so I advise you to 
tell me candidly all you know about the piece of gold, and 
consider whom you can call to witness in your favour." 

" All who could come forward for me are at the Macalome," 
replied the accused ; " but I don't know their names, and not 
even the Christian names of all. One of them, I met this morn- 
ing up in the hills, not far from this place ; but he was only 
going to stay for a short time, and has probably gone back to his 
old working-place." 

" And what's his name ? " 

"I never heard his name. I only know that he's an 
American." 

"And cannot you in any way describe the people from 
whom you received gold in return for your tools and other 
property ? " 

" If I saw them, I could identify them. One is even here — I 
sold my horse, which had fallen lame, to him. I believe, more- 
over, that this is the man from whom I received the piece of 
gold — at any rate, I remember he gave me coarse gold, though I 
was not in the humour to notice it very particularly. How 
could I tell what a scrape I should get into ? " 

" And don't you know even this man's name ? " 

"No — who asks another his name, when he buys or sells? 
Besides, if the man came by the gold wrongfully, he would be 
sure to deny it ; and I can't even take my oath on the subject." 

" But you know how he looked, and where he was at work ? " 
insisted Hale, more than ever convinced by the prisoner's vague 
replies that he was the murderer, and anxious to convict him out 
of his own mouth, by producing the people he described. 

" He looked like any other of the gold-digging fellows," 
answered Golway moodily. " He was at work by the mountain 
slope yonder, where the bushes stretch out some distance towards 
the valley. A little bridle-path leads down into this camp froni 
there, and several negroes are working close by." 

" Oh, I know the place you mean ; and you say your horse 
was lame ? " 

" Yes, he had grazed his right fore-leg against a stump, and 



THE MEETING. 



361 



ripped up tlie skin. He's a brown horse, with Lis left liind-leg 

white as far as the hock, and with a white star on his forehead.^ 
"^Come, we shall be able to find him,'' said Hale; 'nhere are 

not many lame horses among ns just now. Eut how are we to 

get the witnesses over from the Macalome, when you're not even 

able to tell us their names ? " 

" Send some oue there with me, and I will " 

"That won't do, my friend. There are too many Indians 

prowling about. I don't even know if we could get a messenger 

to ride over." 

" And what would be the use of that ? " said Cook. " They 
can only prove that you worked over there. No one will be 
able to swear that you never left the place for half-an-hour, or at 
night." 

" And how are we to guard the prisoner now ? " asked HsJe. 
"We can't keep him long, and we haven't any prisons." 

"We can do nothing further, Mr. Hale," observed the 
alcalde, " than to take down the facts and examine the wit- 
nesses. If we consider the charge proved, we must deliver the 
prisoner up to the district court, which will sentence him. I 
have no authority in a life and death matter." 

" But a jury has," exclaimed Cook angrily. Do you think 
we shall send the murderer of as brave a fellow as ever carried 
a musket in the American woods, to the lawyers over at Golden 
Gate or San Francisco, for them to let him go. whenever they 
choose ?" 

"You will do, sir, what the law tells you," answered the 
alcalde gravely. 

"If you think that," cried Cook, with a scornful langli, 
"you don't know California yet. But I'll be hangrd if *' 

"Silence, Cook," interrupted Hale. "The affair must take 
its course, and you can't alter it if you swear till you're black 
in the face. The chief thing now is to guard the man, so that 
he can't give us the slip." 

" I shall not run away," observed the prisoner quietly. ^ 

"Yes, that's all very\vell," retorted Hale; "but 1 shouldii t 
like to trust to your bare word. Anything else to say, Mr. 
Hetson?" _ , . 

" No ; you'll take care that the accused lias what is neces- 
sary." 

" He shall have meat and drink." 

" And that he is not insulted." , •^^ ^ i 1,0^ 

"He is in my charge," said Hale ; "and till we know whether 
he is guilty or not, I'll take care that no one gets at him. 



362 



THE >[EETIXG. 



And where will you guard him ? " 

" In my own tent. I shall find volunteer sentinels enough." 

" Yery good. Once more, Mr. Golway, I am sorry to see you 
in such a position ; but " 

"Do your duty, sir/' answered Golway. " I ask nothing more." 

"Anything else, squire?" asked the sherifP. Hetson shook 
his head ; and the two men led the prisoner away, to keep him 
safely guarded in Hale's tent until the jury should assemble. 

Dr. Kascher had been a silent but attentive auditor of the 
whole examination. "When the others had left the tent, he went 
up to Hetson, and seizing his hand, exclaimed in an earnest 
tone, — 

" Mr. Hetson, I feel convinced that this man is innocent." 

" But the gold found on him ? " 

" Might easily have passed through two or three hands since 
the real culprit had it in his possession. Do you believe the 
man to whom your wife would once have given her hand capable 
of such a deed ?" 

" I have asked myself that question," answered Hetson. " But 
who can sound the depths of a human heart ?" 

" You have sounded his," answered the old man gravely, " as 
well as I have. Like myself, you are convinced that he has not 
committed this crime — that he is incapable of it; and you must 
do everything in your power to procure for him the evidence he 
needs — if your life is not to be one scene of remorse — one long 
regret for the evil you might have prevented." 

" He stands under the power of the law," said Hetson 
gloomily. 

" So do we all ; but I need not remind yon how the laws are 
administered in California — how the excited mob will tread under 
their feet all law and order, for the sake of gratifying the hot 
passion of the moment. I have not lived so long in the States 
without learning what is meant by Lynch law." 

Hetson had thrown himself into a chair, and sat there moodily, 
leaning his elbow on the table and his head on his hand. He 
did not hear his wife when she quietly entered from the inner 
tent, and glided up to him. When she at last whispered his 
name, he held out his hand, which she seized eagerly ; but he 
never turned his head towards her. 

" Erank ! " she mnrmured in a voice that trembled with 
anxiety, " I have heard everything ; these thin canvass walls 
are a feeble barrier to the angry voices of men. They have evil 
designs against that unhappy man, and you — you will not be 
able to protect him." 



THE MEETING. 



36a 



" But suppose he has really committed the murder ?" observed ' 
Hetson, without looking up. 

Prark, what do you mean ? that question never came from 
your heart ! " cried Jenny, in accents of terror. 

"A piece of gold that belonged to the dead man has been 
found upon him." 

"If an angel came from Heaven!" exclaimed Mrs. Hetson 
passionately, " and told me he had done it, I should say no^ 
no — it is impossible ! " 

" Jenny ! " said Hetson, rising and looking at her with a stern 
glance, " you are beside yourself." 

And Dr. Eascher hastened to add : " Be calm, my dear lady, 
I entreat you." 

" Why should I be calm," she retorted, her eyes flashing with 
indignant defiance. " Have I not schooled my heart, and crushed 
it down, month after month ? Have I ever had a thought but 
for this man's peace, any wish but to make him happy ? Have 
I not done everything a woman could do to cure him of the 
miserable weakness that held him captive like a frightened 
child ? I have followed him into this wilderness, among a horde 
of men so savage, that the very Indians keep aloof from them. 
I have given up my life — my whole life, truly and faithfully, to 
him. But there are bounds to everything. Some things would 
drive me to madness ; and there is a place in my heart where if 
jou wound me the wound is fatal. Have a care — have a care ! 
for if you drive me mad, I mil not answer for the conse- 
quences ! " 

"And so you. love this man still !" Hetson burst out, and his 
voice sounded hollow and almost unearthly in its passion. 

"Love him?" repeated his wife faintly; and the hand she 
had stretched out in her ardour fell powerless by her side — "love 
him ? I love him as I would a dear friend who is dead, whom I 
may never look upon again in this life. But I will not sec him 
murdered before my face," she continued, with retui'ning vehe- 
mence. " Do not trifle with feelings, Erank, which God himself 
has implanted in our hearts, and which can never be destroyed 
while those hearts continue to beat. That man was my first 
love ; and though I have rooted up that love out of my licart, 
the fibres had struck too deep to be torn quite away. I have 
renounced him ; and content with your love, I'rank, will never 
let the shadow of that earlier feeling come between us, to 
darken the sunlight of our home ; but you can never demand 
that I should forget him ; nor can you expect that his mur- 
derer " 



364 



THE MEETING. 



"Jenny, Jenny!" almost slirieked Hetson^ stretdiiug out his 
arms blindly towards her. 

"It is enough/' intermpted his wife, and she broke off 
abruptly, while a death-like paleness overspread hear face. " God 
never lays upon us a burden heavier than we can bear ; for when 
the cup becomes too bitter, there is in the thought itself an 
opiate that makes us forget all grief and sorrow." 

"Mrs. Hetson, dear Mrs. Hetson!" implored the kind-hearted 
old Doctor, hastening towards her, and seizing her hand, while 
a big tear stood in each of his honest eyes ; " pray, pray be re- 
assured. If Mr. Golway is really innocent, of which I have not 
the slightest doubt, you have nothing to fear for his life. Acci- 
dental circumstances have thrown suspicion upon him ; and from 
this suspicion he must, in the eyes of the world, be cleared. You 
may, nevertheless, look with confidence for the result of the in- 
vestigation ; and leave me, and still more your husband, to see 
that everything is done to clear him thoroughly." 

Hetson had resumed his old position at the table, and his wife 
was still too much moved even to look at him. Kascher begged 
her, more by signs than words, to leave her husband to himself 
for a while ; and, with a deep sigh and a silent pressure of her 
kind friend's hand, she turned away, and retreated to her own 
little room. 

"My dear Hetson," said the Doctor, approaching the alcalde, 
as soon as Jenny was gone. But Hetson interrupted him, and, 
stretching out his hand, not unkindly, said in a low voice, — 

"Dear Doctor, you must leave me alone for a while; I have 
much to settle with myself before I can form a clear judgment 
upon all these things, and wish to be free from all impressions 
from without. You are not offended with me for this ?" 

"I can't leave you in better company," answered the old 
man heartily. " Look into your own good heart, my dear young 
friend, and pray for strength to do what is right, and to be deli- 
vered from evil suspicion. When I come back, I hope to see 
you meet me with an open brow and a light heart." 

He shook the alcalde heartily by the hand, and went. Twilight 
came on, and deepened into night ; but still the man sat there 
motionless and still, with his elbow on the table and his head 
resting on his hand. 



THE EYEXIXG IN THE CAMP. 



365 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 

The rumour that the murderer of Johns had been discovered 
and captured had meanwhile spread like wildfire through the 
little community ; and to the true report of his English birth, 
lying fame had appended the supplementary intelligence that he 
was a convict who had either escaped from Australia, or been 
shipped direct to California by the British government. That 
he would be hung on the next tree without delay was considered 
as certain. 

No work had been done that day. The people had spent the 
afternoon in drinking in the various tents, and their natural 
excitement had been increased in no small degree by this way of 
disposing of their leisure time. 

The return of the expedition against the Indians did not tend 
to re-establish peace and quietness. The men who had taken 
part in that notable affair came back in very ill humour; for, as 
they expressed it, they had not " got a chance " at a single 
Indian. Out of the almost impervious thickets clouds of arrows 
had been discharged at them, slightly wounding several of their 
number, without their being able to discover the foe, who seemed 
to have vanished into the ground itself. 

Siftly was particularly enraged, for his horse had been struck 
in several places, and he had been at last obliged to abandon the 
pursuit without achieving the smallest result. The Indians 
retired into the mountains, and it would have been dangerous to 
follow them further into the steep gorges. Besides, stones and 
fragments of rock came roUing down threateningly towards 
the little troop, warning them that the red-skins had occupied 
the heights, where they were quite out of the reach of their 
pursuers. . 

Within the last few days, Siftly, in partnership with the 
notable Mr. Smith, had erected a tent at the extremity of the 
little town, separated only by two or three abandoned " claims 
from the other canvass dwellings. Thus reheved from the rivalry 
of the other gambling-rooms, he knew the character of the popu- 



366 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



lation well enough to feel certain he would have plenty of visitors 
as soon as Manuela began to exert her musical talents in his 
cause. Though the men understood no more about music than 
if they had been so many bears, they liked to hear her play, and 
the very novelty of the entertainment would not fail to draw 
many visitors. 

To this tent Siftly retired, and busied himself with his horse ; 
first taking the saddle from the poor creature's reeking back, and 
then proceeding to wash its wounds with brandy, muttering savage 
curses all the time. Presently Boyles came up, and remained 
for a time standing silently beside him. 

At first Siftly took little notice of his friend. He was angry 
with Boyles for not having joined the expedition against the 
Indians — angry with the expedition for having failed — angry with 
himself and with the whole world. But still Boyles made no 
motion to depart, and at last broke silence, as Siftly seemed in 
no humour to do so. 

" Siftly," he said, "I've come to pay you back, with my best 
thanks, the gold you lent me the other day." 

" Keep your thanks for those that want them," was the 
gracious reply, " and hand me the gold. You seem, after all, to 
prefer breaking your back out in the flat to making your fortune 
in an easy way. Well, every man works according to his taste 
or his ability." 

" You're right," answered Boyles ; " I wasn't cut out for a 
player, as Smith taught me, to my cost, and so I leave the pro- 
fession to cleverer people. It was four ounces you lent me ; 
there's just that weight in the bag here. Weigh it ; you'll find 
it correct." 

" All right," answered Siftly, thrusting the gold into his pocket, 
bag and all, with an air of indifference ; " but keep out of the 
horse's way ; the brandy stings it, and it may kick." 

" You seem to have met the Indians, then, after all ?" 
God's curse upon the brown dogs ! But what's that to you ? 
You took precious good care of your skin, I fancy." 

Boyles made no reply to this taunt, but looked thoughtfully 
at the angry speaker for a minute or two, as if in doubt whether 
to continue the conference or not. At last he said, — 

" Something of importance has happened here in the camp 
while you were away." 

"I know all about it," grumbled the gambler; "they've 
caught the fellow who murdered Johns. I wonder who was 
sharp enough to smeU him out." 

" It was that man Cook," said Boyles. "He had worked for 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



367 



some time with Johns, and identified part of the gold the poor 
fellow had dng out. There was one piece, in particular, that he 
found in the Britisher's possession, and on the strength of that 
the man was arrested." 

Siftlj had stopped in his occupation, and was listening atten- 
tively, with his right elbow resting against the horse's side." 

" A particular piece ? " he repeated at last, with a chuckle. 
It must be uncommonly particular, for him to undertake to 
know it from the rest."' 

" He is ready to swear to it." 

" Then they'll hang the man," coolly observed the gambler. 
" What do I care ! Confound the interpolers — there'll be one less 
of them." 

"But do you know, Siftly," said Boyles, looking anxiously 
round to see that no one could overhear them — " is any one in 
your tent there ? " 

" No— what's the matter ? " 

"Do you know what piece of gold it was that they have 
arrested him for ? " 

" Do I know ? Are you mad, or drunk, Boyles ? How on 
earth should I know ? " asked the gambler scornfully. 

"It was one of the pieces," continued Boyles, without noticing 
his companion's excitement, " that you lent me the other day." 

"I! " yelled Siftly, jumping up with a livid face. "Are you 
going to lug me into the cursed affair, for the sake of some stupid 
notion you've got into your stupid skull ? Damn it, Boyles, have 
a care, or it would be better for you that you'd never seen 
California." 

The look with which he accompanied this speech was so full of 
wild reckless passion, that Boyles involuntarily retreated a step or 
two. But the latter felt obliged to ease his heart of the weight 
that pressed upon it — he was determined to relieve his doubts in 
one way or another, and went on steadily enough, though his 
voice trembled a little at first, — 

"Don't misunderstand me, Siftly. "You've always been 
friendly to me, and I'd be the last man to wish to get you into a 
scrape ; but you must answer me one question — me only — no 
one else in the world- — and then leave me to manage the rest." 

"First tell me," asked Siftly, in reply, "who put this mad 
* idea into your head." 

"What mad idea?" . ^ 

" That you received the bit of gold from me. How came it to 
pass from you to the stranger ? " 

"I bought his horse of him — it had fallen lame " 



368 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



"His horse was lame?" asked Siftlj, with increasing 
interest. " The suspected murderer is an Englishman — ^is he 
not ? " 

" Yes — a young fellow 

"And his horse was brown, if I don't mistake, and had a 
white hind leg." 

" So it had. You've seen it before, then ? " 

An evil smile played round Siftly's mouth, as he muttered, 
without attending to the last question, 

" So it's that chap, is it ? I thought he would come to some 
such end. But it serves him right. Why did the fool come 
here at all ? " 

" So you know him ? " 

" Yes, by sight. And he swore, you say, that he got the piece 
from you ? " ^ 

" No, he did not. He even said, he could not swear to it, as 
he had sold several things, and had not particularly noticed the 
gold he got in payment. But he thought it was among what I 
paid him, and the sherifp came to me and questioned me on the 
subject." 

" What ? Hale did ? And what did you say ? '\ 

" Why, Siftly," answered the young fellow — turning aside to 
hide the blush that came into his face — " the fact is, I — evaded 
it — told him I did not know the piece of gold." 

" Yery well," cried Siftly, with a laugh of triumph : "then the 
affair's all right. What need to bother any more about it ? " 

" What need ? " repeated Boyles, opening his eyes in wonder. 
" Why, you forget that on the strength of that piece of gold the 
poor devil may be hung." 

" That's their affair and his," muttered the gambler, as he 
took the bridle from his horse, and turned it loose. 

" But the man's innocent," urged Boyles in a whisper. 

" How do you know that ? " retorted Siftly. 

" Siftly, I can swear by the heaven above us you gave me that 
bit of gold," declared Boyles, in a firm but suppressed voice. 
" I know it too well. I thought it so curious, that I intended 
to keep it, to have it made into a breastpin. I only wish I had; 
but this morning I forgot all about it. I was so glad at making 
such a good bargain with the man for his horse " 

" And what do you want with me ? " demanded Siftly, with 
another of his evil glances. 

" To ask you from whom you had the bit of gold." 

" And to get me cross-questioned by your set of blockheads on 
the jury?" 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



369 



^'Haven't I told you that I denied all knowledj^e of the 
matter?" 

" Ah, yes. I forgot—so you did. Then you only want the 
information for your own private satisfaction. You're sure of 
that?" 
Yes." 

"Then Til tell you,-— and perhaps it will set your mind at 
rest, for I don't believe you're mad enough to connect me with 
the business. The gold 1 lent you the other day I won the 
evening before from a Mexican over in Cedar Valley." 
"And do you know the man ? " 
^ " Know him ? How should I know him ? I kept my eye on 
his gold, ay,_ and on his cards and his fingers too, and never 
looked at his face; besides, all those Mexican rascals look 
alike." 

"Why, then," exclaimed Boyles, from whose mind the answer 
seemed to have removed a load, " we can help the poor devil, 
who has almost got the rope round his neek. If I tell 
Hale " 

" Ai-e you mad ? " interrupted Siftly, with an oath. " Do you 
want to get me into a scrape, to help a cursed Britisher out of 
it ? That would be very fine. Where do you suppose I can 
find the Mexican from whom I got the gold, eh ? — and till I can 
do it, I'm to be worried and badgered with their examinations ? 
Not I, I can assure you." 

" But vou surely don't want an innocent man to be hansred, 
Siftly ? '\ 

" An innocent man ? How do you know, pray, that he is 
innocent ? Ten chances to one, he's one of those scoundrelly 
convicts who swarm everywhere, — and whether they hang him 
hiere or in San Erancisco isn't any great matter. But at 
any rate I don't intend to come forward for him I can assure 
you ; and if you choose to lug in my name to the sheriff, you 
must take the consequences." 

" / take the consequences ? " 

" How do you intend to prove that you had the bit of gold 
from me, eh ? — and have you quite forgotten a certain night in 
the swamp on the Mississippi ? " 

" Siftly," faltered Boyles, from whose face every vestige of 
colour fled, as the gambler uttered this speech, with a malignant 
grin, " I was innocent of that man's death, — you know that 
. well enough — you can't help knowing it. If I had had the least 
suspicion of what was going to be done, it should never have 
taken place, — at least not in my presence." 

2 B 



370 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



" Well, at any rate, you've not forgotten that day/' said Siftly, 
^vitli a grin. 

" If I were to live a hundred years," answered Boyles, with a 
shiver, " I should never forget it." 

" So much the better for you," observed Siftly, with a mean- 
ing look. " That fellow was a traitor, Boyles, — an informer, — - 
and if you know what's best for yourself, you'll keep silence, and 
let the affair take its course, especially as you can't alter it. 
But of this you may be certain, that if you come forward with 
this nonsensical story against me, or give any one else a hint of it^ 
I shall not consider myself bound to keep what I know to my- 
self ; let me tell the jury what I think of you, and see what they'd 
say to it." 

" Siftly ! — for God's sake — you don't mean " 

" Go to the devil ! " interrupted the gambler gruffly. " Here 
are friends for a man — ha, ha ! The proverb says, ' Save me from 
my friends,' and I'm hanged if it doesn't say right. However, 
do just as you please. You've told the sheriff already that you 
don't know^ the piece of gold, and that the stranger never had it 
from you; now go back and tell him you've just remembered 
that perhaps it belonged to Siftly, because Siftly was fool enough 
to lend you some gold the other day. Then let me get up to 
have my say, and we'll see who makes the most impression on 
the jury, you or I, — and then we'll settle our own account after- 
wards ; " and without waiting for a reply, he took up his saddle 
and bridle from the ground, and walked off with them into his 
tent. 

Boyles waited for a little while, but the gambler did not re- 
appear. Still he did not like to part thus from a man whom he 
feared, and who had, after all, done him a kindness when he needed 
it ; and after standing for a long time wavering and uncertain, 
as his disposition was, which made him an apt tool in the hands 
of such a man as Siftly, he at last followed him into the tent. 

There he remained for about a quarter of an hour, at the 
expiration of which time they came out together, — Siftly with 
his hand resting confidentially on Boyles' shoulder ; so they went 
down the street into the town. 

Everywhere groups of men might be seen standing in the twi- 
light, discussing the events of that important day. 

The Mexicans had at first been objects of interest ; but either 
they feared the Americans would make an attack upon them at 
nightfall, or they were ashamed to show their faces after their 
display of cowardice in the morning ; be that as it may, the 
last of them had gone off from the flat into the mountains 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



371 



early in the afternoon, and not a single straggler remained be- 
hind on the whole wide expanse. Since their disappearance, 
the discovery of the murderer of Johns had been the chief 
topic of conversation, for no one doubted that the prisoner 
really was the culprit. Siftly parted from Boyles in the town, 
and lingered near the' various groups, to hear what they 
thought. 

The general opinion seemed to be that the jury would assemble 
in the morning, and the prisoner would be executed some time 
in the afternoon. As regarded his being delivered up to the 
district court, Briars and his set swore, with sundry profane oaths, 
that they would never allow such a thing to be done. They were 
men enough, they said, to settle accounts with an Australian 
convict, and if the people in the district court wanted work, they 
might find it for themselves. 

Tolerably satisfied with the aspect of affairs, and in a much 
better temper, Siftly now began to think of his own plans. To 
carry out his designs, he required the assistance of Hetson, 
whom he accordingly proceeded to seek out without loss of 
time. 

The sun had disappeared behind the hills, and while the tops 
of the pines and cedars still shone in the rosy evening light, the 
m^hi had already begun to spread her black veil over the plain. 
TEus when Siftly reached the alcalde's tent, it was almost dark 
in the interior; and it was not until he had peered in for a 
moment or two, that he recognized the figure of his friend, 
seated at the table, with his head resting on his hand. 

" Hetson, are you asleep ? " 

"No,— is that you, Siftly?" 

" The same ; but why, in the name of wonder, are you sitting 
here in the dark, brooding ? Let us have alight, for pity's sake — 
or better still, take a stroll through the town with me ; for I've 
someting to talk to you about that I don't want every one in the 
neighbouring tents to hear." 

Hetson remained for some time longer sitting in the same 
position, and did not appear even to have heard what his visitor 
said. Suddenly he started up with an apparent effort, seized his 
hat, and followed Siftly into the open air. 

The gambler proceeded to take his arm in a confidential 
manner ; and as they strolled up the street he began, uncere- 
moniously enough, — 

''I spoke to you this m.orning about the contract I made with 
your old Spanish friend, about Manuela's playing in my tent ; 
and now I must request you to desire the girl to be ready 
2 B 2 



372 



THE EVENING IX THE CAMP. 



in about an hour's time. I hope she won't give me any 
trouble." 

" Have you spoken to me about this already ? " asked Hetson, 
looking at him in some surprise. 

" Certainly I have," answered Siftly, with a laugh ; "but your 
head was full of other things, and you did not seem to hear 
what I said. The affair, by the way, is simple enough, for Don 
Ronez— " 

" I know the particulars," interrupted Hetson ; " I heard them 
from Don Alonzo himself. I'm glad, by the way, that our con- 
versation has taken this turn ; for I have a request to make." 

"And what may it be?" asked Siftly, whose black brows 
began to contract into an ominous frown. 

" Simply this : Don Alonzo has been playing with you, though 
I particularly begged you not to tempt the unhappy old man 
again." 

" Tempt him ? What's the Spaniard to me ? If he's fool 
enough to bring his gold to my table, why should I send him 
away ? — and hasn't he the same chance that I have of winning the 
stake ? " 

" We won't discuss that question just now," answered Hetson, 
with a half-smile. " Don Alonzo might also lose his gold so long 
as he had any left to lose ; but he has staked on a card something 
over which he has no right — I mean his daughter's freedom." 

" IN^onsense ! — freedom!" retorted Siftly, with a laugh. 
" Nobody wants to buy her of him ; and the whole question 
relates only to an hour or two every evening, which she is to 
employ in playing her violin in my tent. Besides, Manuela is 
not yet of age, and therefore he certainly has a right to dispose 
of her time." 

" We'll waive that question for the present," continued the 
alcalde. ''My request is, that you release the Spaniard from 
his agreeemeui, and accept as a set-off the amount of the stake 
you risked against him, in money." 

" Hauged if I do it," answered Siftly, abruptly disengaging 
his arm from Hetson's. " We're neither of us children who 
play for sugar-plums or counters. We both knew very well 
what we staked before the card fell ; and if he's sorry for his 
bargain, it's his affair, and not mine." 

" Manuela refuses to play." 

" I had an idea that she would," said Siftly, with a chuckle. 
" It's the old story : but she'll have to yield here, as she was 
obliged to do at San Erancisco. I fancy we've laws here to uphold 
the rights of Americans against the foreigners." 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



373 



" In this case you may be mistaken. Our Californian laws are 
not everywhere identical : many things that interfered with the 
privileges of the Spanish race, as the old proprietors of the soil, 
have been altered in their favour. Take, for instance, the prac- 
tice of playing hazard. It is strictly forbidden in the States, and 
yet nobody thinks of interfering with it here.'' 

"Ha! ha!— they know why," laughed Siftley. "They'd 
better not try to put it down. Bat what's the use of our 
splitting straws here? The thing has been settled — settled 
by full-grown, responsible men; — there were ten or twelve 
witnesses present, and there's no need of wasting another word 
on the subject. So do me the favour to give the girl a setting- 
down, to make her give up her foolish resistance ; for she can't 
help herself, after all." 

" Come, Siftly, suppose I beg you, as a favour to me person- 
ally, to give up what you consider yonr right, and to conclude 
the affair amicably. We've disturbance enough in the camp 
already just now, without bringing in any private questions of 
our own." 

"Then I'm very sorry that I must refuse your request,'^ 
answered Siftly, in a stubborn tone. " I know I am in the 
right ; and if I am compelled to it, I shall force the obstinate girl 
to fulfil the contract." 

" So you refuse the stake, which I should pay you down in 
full immediately." 

" I certainly decline it, and demand that the girl shall make 
her appearance in my tent this evening." 

"Then I am sorry to have to inform you," said Hetson, 
calmly, "that she will not make her appearance in your tent — 
at least, not while I am alcalde here." 

"You forget through whom you got the post!" exclaimed 
Siftly, in an angry tone. 

"Through whom? — Through the choice of the people, I 
presume," was the reply. 

" The people's choice would certainly never have fallen upon 
you," hissed Siftly between his teeth, "if I hadn't spoken 
up for you. But I, who set you up, can pull you down again. 
I'd have you remember that, Hetson." 

"I think you are over-rating your influence," answered his 
friend, with a provoking smile. " But supposing this is not the 
case — as long as I fill any post here, I shall certainly maintain its 
rights.^' 

" By treading down the rights of the Americans, I suppose ; 
—a cursedly clever way of going about your work ; only I fear 



374 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



Master Hetson, that you re over-rating your power now. I sup- 
pose your successful trip into the flat to-day has turned your 
head ; but you must remember that one success isn't everytliinff." 

" The Mexicans are scattered," answered Hetson coolly ; 
*'and I don't think they'll try their game of this morning again." 

"Tush! I'm not talking of those cowardly brutes," answered 
Siftly sulkily. " If you'd only fired off a rifle among tlie tents, 
they'd have run off." 

" Then what do you allude to ?" asked Hetson, incredulously. 

" I allude to your lucky capture — on which, under other cir- 
cumstances, I should have heartily congratulated you." 

" I don't know," said Hetson gravely, " if I can look upon 
what you call niy capture as anything fortunate. I had nothing 
to do with it. The man stands under the law; and he will 
be released or punished according as he is found guilty or 
acquitted." 

"Yes, of course, we know all about that !" cried Siftly, and he 
burst into a loud laugh. " But suppose they acquit him, and he 
goes out free ; suppose this interesting danger and imprisonment — 
for you know there's nothing like it to raise a man in a woman's 
estimation — suppose it should awaken a tender sympathy for him 
in Mrs. Hetson' s heart?" 

" Siftly ! What are you saying ?" 

" Suppose I were to come forward and state that he received 
that troublesome bit of gold from me — and you see I've won a 
good many remarkable bits from the Mexicans, here and else- 
where, and might not this have been among them — do you 
think any one would have the impudence to accuse rae of the 
murder ? Eemember that I might do such a thing; if not for 
your sake, or the stupid fellow's, I might do it to please your 
wife." 

" Listen to me, Siftly," said Hetson, stopping short, and seizing 
the gambler by the arm. " I don't know how far you are capable 
of bearing false witness — I believe that in mere anger and spite 
you are making yourself out worse than you are — but if you 
could indeed bring true testimony to prove that this unhappy 
man is innocent, I should really and truly be most grateful to you." 

Siftly stared, as if he thought these words were spoken with 
some sinister design ; then, suddenly turning round, he grumbled 
out : 

" You're mad enough for anything, I do believe ; and who the 
devil's to understand you ? But now I ask, for the last time, 
' WiU you exert your authority as alcalde to procure for me what 
I have a right to^ or not ?' " 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



375 



" No ! You liave my decided answer." 

" Then Vm to take the law into my own hands ?" 

"You may try: but as sure as I stand here, the man who 
attempts to enter my tent against my will, or for an unlawful 
purpose, shall be shot dead !" 

" Pooh !" laughed the gambler scornfully ; " your threats are 
nothing to me. But as you won't have peace, why, we must 
have war ; and I'll undertake to show you that we have men in 
the camp who are not to be trifled with." 

And throwing his poncho over his shoulder, he strode away up 
the street towards Kenton's tent, leaving Hetson standing alone 
T^here they had talked. 

Count Beckdorf led his new-found friend into the valley, where 
Fischer, undisturbed by the Indian tumult and all the lawless pro- 
ceedings of the day, had been quietly sitting, rocking his cradle. 
He felt interested in the quarrel between the Indians and the 
white men, but not suf&ciently so to give up his day's work. His 
.services as interpreter were, moreover, no longer required in the 
Paradise ; for the new alcalde spoke Trench and Spanish better 
ihan he did ; so he could, with a good conscience, leave the two 
parties to fight out their battle without interfering in the matter 
at all. 

He had, however, waited with some impatience for Beckdorf 's 
return, and listened with interest to every particular of the events 
that had taken place, rocking the cradle all the time, like an in- 
dustrious matron. But when Beckdorf spoke of the expedition 
against the Indians, he observed, with a laugh, " that they might 
just as well try to catch their own shadows." That they had cut 
the gambler's ears ofP, raised them considerably in his estimation. 

While they talked, Lanzot was initiated into the noble art of 
gold-digging — his task being to carry pailfuls of earth to the 
cradle when it required replenishing. 

Judging from the general aspect of affairs, a lively evening 
was to be expected in the camp; so the firm of Eischer and 
Beckdorf wisely resolved not to begin sinking another hole, but 
to make a half-holiday of it, so soon as they had exhausted the 
treasures of their present claim, which appeared a tolerably pro- 
ductive one. 

They arranged to meet again in the Alsace tent, the general 
place of rendezvous of the Germans ; and Eischer went home at 
once, while Beckdorf, taking Lanzot's arm within his own, set out 
on a walk round the upper part of the flat, so as to enter the 
town on the other side of the "red earth." 



376 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



"This is, as you saj, a wonderful country/' observed Lanzot, 
after they had mutually related their adventures ; " but it's in a 
primitive condition, after all. Eancy a laud with the population 
all males— I should not have thought it possible—and yet we see 
it here before our eyes." 

" Wait !^ you must except our little Paradise from your cen- 
sure, for, in one respect, it has the advantage over all the other 
mining towns. Besides a few very ordinary backwoodswomen, 
who have come with their husbands across the rocky mountains, 
we have two ladies here, not called so by courtesy, but well-bred 
women." 

"Really!" asked Lanzot; and if Beckdorf had looked in his 
face at that moment, he would have seen that explanation was 
unnecessary. ^'Ah, yes! I remember that Mr. Hetson, an 
American, has brought his wife with him to the mines." 

"And there is a very lovely Spanish girl in their company," 
observed Beckdorf. "Not a Spanish girl of the kind you meet 
here in California, but one evidently belonging to the better 
class, and a charming performer on the violin. A few minutes 
ago they went into the tent of the old American yonder, whose 
wife is very ill." 

"Where ?" asked Lanzot, in a great hurry. " I haven't seen 
any one." 

"Because you kept staring over at the town. If we stay here 
a little longer, we shall see them come back. She often goes 
over to visit the poor old dame, and never empty-handed." 

" You say she plays the violin ? " 

"I am told she does. I have not heard her yet." 

"Then, perhaps, this is the same young lady I knew at San 
Francisco. Is her father's name Don Ronez ?" 

"Quite right," answered the unconscious Beckdorf, never 
suspecting how unnecessary the confirmation was; "but see, 
there they come. Turn aside here, Emile, this way; the foot- 
path will lead us directly towards them." 
^ Beckdorf was right ; little Manuela had only been to pay a 
charitable visit to the sick wife of an American, and to take her 
some small dainties. But, with the fear of Siftly before her eyes, 
she had persuaded her father to accompany her; and had not 
stayed longer than was absolutely necessary, to present her little 
offering, and to make a few kind inquiries concerning the 
patient's state. 

She came tripping along, with her eyes on the ground, 
keeping as close to her father as she could. She had certainly 
heard the approach of the two men, and their voices ; but had 



THE EYE>JING IN THE CAMP. 



377 



not dared to look up, for fear of encountering the bearded face 
and sardonic smile of her enemy ; Don Alonzo, for his part, was 
absorbed^ in his own reflections, till a cheerful " Hallo, senor," 
caused him first to look up, and then to hurry forward, while his 
melancholy face shone with an unwonted smile. 

"Don Emilio !" he exclaimed, holding out his hand joyfully. 
^ "'What good star brings you here ? " 

"Don Emilio ?" whispered Manuela, and she turned very red, 
but did not seem displeased, for all that ; indeed, little Manuela 
put out her hand and welcomed him heartily, observing to 
herself as she did so, that the young man had been very kind 
to her father at San Erancisco — a grateful little girl was 
Manuela. 

And what a budget of news they had to tell each other ; these 
people, who, according to Lanzot's account, were so slightly 
acquainted — and how they both flushed with pleasure — and what 
sparkling eyes those were, that little Manuela raised to the face 
of her father's friend ! But the unlucky Beckdorf only knew a 
few words of Spanish, in consequence of which deficiency his 
share in the conversation was a very monosyllabic and unsatis- 
factory one. Lanzot had, moreover, completely forgotten that 
such a man as Beckforf existed ; he had eyes and ears only for 
Manuela, who was telling him, with all the energy and earnest- 
ness of gesture peculiar to her country, of the capture of the 
young Englishman, and the interest that Mrs. Hetson seemed to 
take in him as an old friend. 

" But," he asked, " what could he, a perfect stranger, do in 
the matter?" 

" Everything," Manuela earnestly replied. " If he would only 
visit the poor captive, who had not a single friend in the place. 
She had heard that he wanted to call witnesses, and nobody 
would bring them for him, and to-morrow morning that hor- 
'rible jury would come together. He could help the poor 
man, she was sure, for he had helped them before ;" and as she 
looked appealingly into his face, Lanzot felt as if he could ride 
to the ends of the earth, to do her errand ; but she soon roused 
him from his pleasant reflections, for she told him of Siftly— how 
he had come there, and cheated her father again at play, and now 
wanted to force her to appear in his odious tent. She had but 
one hope, she said, and that was in the alcalde's protection ; if 
he failed her, she would be quite forsaken." 

"Not quite, Manuela," answered Lanzot, in a voice of the 
heartiest sympathy. "Eirst we'll visit this prisoner you talk of, 
and see what can be done for the poor fellow, and then——" 



378 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



Save him, and I will be grateful to you for ever," cried Ma- 
nuela — and, seizing her father's arm, she hurried away. 

Pleasantly as such words could not fail to sound in the ears of 
a man in Lanzot's position, they still left an uneasy feeling in his 
breast. Who was this man, that Manuela should interest herself 
so warmly in his fate ? There was only one person who could 
give him information on this point, to wit, Doctor Kascher — and 
to find Doctor Rascher, he accordingly resolved. 

Beckdorf, who knew nothing of the capture of the Englishman, 
was prepared to tease Lanzot about the good terms on which he 
evidently stood with the young Spanish lady, with whom he had 
professed himself so slightly acquainted. But the former told 
him, in a few brief words, of the occurrences of the afternoon, 
and of the interest the Hefsons took in the prisoner (he said 
nothing of Manuela), and he found his friend ready and willing 
to assist him. It was getting dark, and if any steps were to be 
taken that evening, there was no time to be lost. 

Doctor Kascher had "taken lodgings" in a tent adjoining 
Hetson's, as his friends were unable to accommodate him. 
Thither they now went in quest of him, but were unsuccessful; 
and returned to the town to make inquiries in the different tents. 
Perhaps, they thought, he might have been sent for to the Alsace 
tent, by one of the Germans who usually assembled there in the 
evening. 

As they walked along the street, a man, with a large Mexican 
cloak folded round him, strode quickly past, without noticing 
them. It was too dark to distinguish his face, but his gait and 
appearance struck Lanzot as familiar, and made him observe to 
Beckdorf, — 

"I ought to know that fellow. Do you know who he 
is ?" 

"The greatest rascal ever raised on American soil," answered 
his friend ; " a gambler of the name of Siftly." 

"I thought it was he," said Lanzot; "but what, in the name 
of wonder, was that ?" 

A dark figure had been running down the street, so rapidly as 
almost to come in contact with them ; it stopped abruptly, and 
then glided away, like a serpent, between the tents. 

" Strange !" muttered Beckdorf, looking sharply after the 
fugitive. " The fellow did not seem to have the clearest con- 
science in the world. He looked to me almost like a Chinanian ; 
but they've left the flat some days ago — and besides, they never 
come into the town after dark. But we'll just see where the 
fellow went ; whether he's still hiding between the two tents, or 



THE EYENIXG IX THE CAMP. 



379 



lias taken himself off into the red flat. Yon stand here, Lanzot, 
while I go ronnd, to head him back this way." 

Lanzot did as he was told; and Beekdorf, well acquainted 
with the localitYj slipped ronnd the tent, to try and cnt off the 
fugitive's retreat. — tVTioever he was, he had run for it ; the space 
between the two tents was empty. 

"There, let him go," said Beckdorf with a laugh, as he came 
back from his fruitless pursuit. ''If he's on a bad errand, some 
one will be sure to catch him ; and if he only avoided us because 
he didn't want our acquaintance, we must manage to bear the 
deprivation." 

"And where is the tent you spoke of ?" 

"There ! just opposite." 

" Then let us go and see if the Doctor is there." 
As he spoke, a voice hailed them. 
"Baron!" it said, " is that yQu?" 

"The Doctor, as I'm alive," cried the young man joyfully. 
Doctor, we've been looking for you as it' you were gold ; we 
want some information?" 
' *' We want some !" 

"I, and an old friend, whom I have met by chance here in the 
mines. Count Beckdorf. When we can get into the light, I'll 
introduce you two gentlemen to each other. The fact is, I've 
been speaking with Manuela. Where are they keeping the pri- 
soner ?" 

" In the sheriff's tent." 

"And do you think we can obtain admittance to him ?" 

" There is^no harm in trying. But what good can you do hnn, 
my dear Lanzot? The only thing that could save hnn, or at 
least relieve him from his unpleasant position— for I cant 
believe they would hang him on such evidence as they have got-- 
would be to bring over a couple of men from Macalomc, to 
prove an alibi.'' ^ ^ n cc■x^^\ i 

"If he only knows their names," said Beckdorf, i H ^\i;'l^^i'- 
take to bring them over. I can find my way even flight. 

" But, unhappily, he does not know their names. Ihe most no 
can do is to describe the men's appearance " 

"Then we must speak with him," said Beckdorf decidcdlv 
-the sheriff knows me, and I'll introduce you; if J^^^ ^^^^I^^ 
another word he hurried away the two men towards Jl^^^^ f ^^^V. 

Honest Hale had taken the captive ^^^^ V"f/'%?nha^did 
rather a delicate office in such a town of tents. J^^^ 
not possess a prison, or even a proper- blockhouse n Ui.ch to 
incaicerateaman; and there was nothnig lor it but to ^.atcll 



380 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



him continually, until he was either released or given up to his 
judges. 

There were, however, plenty of volunteers to stand sentry ; but 
still it was a disagreeable affair, and only to be endured for a 
short time, on an emergency. If the prisoner had managed to 
break bounds, and had once got fairly into the dark flat, not all 
the inhabitants together would have been able to recapture him. 
Hale knew that well enough, and had taken his measures 
accordingly. 

Though inclined to use his prisoner as well as circumstances 
would allow, the sheriff had considered it necessary to tie the 
Englishman's hands behind his back. lie was placed in such a 
manner that a light fell full upon him, exposing not only his 
hands, but his whole figure, in bold relief. Two sentinels sat, 
one on each side of him, with loaded guns on their knees and 
revolvers in their belts, so that flight became impossible. Eor 
further security, however, a thfrd sentinel had been posted out- 
side the tent to keep off the curious crowd. The sheriff did not 
wish the accused to be incommoded ; and there were scores of 
idle fellows about the place who would have spent hours staring 
in at the poor captive as if he had been a wild beast, after the 
established rule and custom of crowds on such occasions. 

This sentry accordingly snubbed our three friends in very un- 
ceremonious fashion, and told them to be off about their business. 
Eut Beckdorf insisted on at least seeing the sheriff ; and Hale, 
coming out in front of the tent, admitted them, on condition that 
they should not approach within arm's length of the prisoner. 

The interior looked impressive enough ; the two backwoodsmen, 
with their long rifles, who redoubled their vigilance as the 
strangers entered ; and the flickering candles throwing their light 
on the dejected prisoner, as he sat depressed and anxious between 
his watchful guards. 

He had flung himself on a wooden bench, and sat brooding 
silently, with his eyes fixed on the ground. A mattress lay on 
the floor before him, to serve him for a bed if he should wish to 
sleep ; but he was too restless for that. A crushed, blighted life 
lay behind him ; and with an angry consciousness upon him that 
he had in no way deserved the strokes of misfortune which had 
fallen in succession upon him, he felt almost a morbid suicidal 
joy in dwelling upon the sad events of the last day. 

The three Germans approached him with friendly overtures ; 
but it cost them some trouble to conquer the distrust with which 
he looked upon all strangers ; and it was not till Dr. Rascher 
announced himself as a firm friend of Mrs. Hetson's, on whose 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



381 



authority he begged Mr. Golway to deal openly with him, and 
say what could be done towards cleaiing him of the false cbarge 
upon which he was detained, that his brow cleared, and he became 
more communicative. 

The information he bad to give was of so scanty a kind, that 
Dr. Hascher could not help shaking his head in a melancholy and 
doubtful way, and the sheriff, who had thrown himself upon the 
bed, burst out plainly — 

"I say, old boy, if you can't tell a better tale than that you 
were not here but somewhere else, your case is in a queer con- 
dition, and I would not be in your skin for something." 

Beckdorf, nevertheless, placed some stress on his declaration 
concerning the old man, wdio, he persisted, had ridden down with 
him part of the way to the town, on some business or other, 
though he could not tell what this business w^as. He exhorted 
Golway to describe the appearance of this man, and to repeat 
what he could remember of his conversation ; and Hale himself 
became an attentive auditor. 

Until now the sheriff had firmly believed that the Englishman 
ha^ really committed the crime with which he stood charged. 
The uneducated American, however honest and well-meaning he 
may be, almost always has a latent idea that England would like 
to domineer over America, and, consequently, he hates the 
Britishers, and in fact would look on the prospect of a war with 
England as a very desirable thing. The dejected demeanour of 
the prisoner, too, though it proceeded from an entii'ely different 
source, was ascribed by Hale to a consciousness of guilt. But 
now that young Beckdorf, whom he knew and esteemed as a 
thoroughly respectable, and where occasion required, a determined 
man, interested himself so warmly for the captive, Hale's pre- 
iudices began to give way, and the possibility rose dimly before 
him, that the poor fellow might be innocent, after all. But why 
had he been in such a deuce of a hurry to get away ? Still he 
set himself seriously to consider who the "old American" 
in question could be; the stirring scenes of the day had 
prevented any of the actors from dwelling very distinctly in his 
memory. 

"H I am not mistaken," observed Golway at last, " he men- 
tioned having lost his two sons in the last Mexican 

"But, my good sir," said Beckdorf disconsolately, "if you 
could only remember his Christian name ; that would, at any rate, 
be some clue " 

"Hurrah!* I have it," shouted Hale. "He's given a clue; 
and I know now whom he means. It must be old Nolten. 



382 



THE EVENING IN THE CAMP. 



"Did you hear that name mentioued ? asked Beckdorf 
eagerly. 

"No/' answered the prisoner; "but I recollect distinctly his 
mentioning about his sons." 

"And is he at Macalomes ?" asked the sheriff; "for he has 
gone away from here." 

" He intended to go back there." 

"Then I'll fetch him," said Beckdorf, determinedly. "I'll 
undertake to ride over in six hours ; and have him here to-mor- 
row at noon." 

"Bah !" interposed Hale ; "you can't ride through the moun- 
tains alone, and at night, now our fellows have made the red- 
skins as wild as they can be." 

" I'm not afraid of them ; they know me, and I've never been 
unfriendly towards them." 

"All cats are grey at night, as the proverb says," objected 
Hale ; " and they'd stick you and your horse full of arrows 
before you could say ' Walle, Walle ! ' " 

"Do you think that Nolten's testimony would benefit him ? " 

"Weil, I think it would," replied Hale. " Nolten is an 
honest man, out and out ; and if he swears here that he saw the 
Englishman every day of the last week at Macalomes, that will 
make a great difference in his favour. But I don't quite believe 
the story." 

"And when was the jury to be called ?" 

" To-morrow morning. But if you undertake to bring a 
witness, I will take it upon myself to defer the matter till the 
evening. With whom did you work there, stranger ? " 

" At first with a fellow-countryman of mine." 

" He won't do you any good," interrupted Hale, shaking his 
head. 

" And he's gone away from Macalomes, too — afterwards with 
an American of the name of Robins. If he were still there, I 
should not want any other witness ; for he was ill for a time 
and we slept in the same tent. But he left the mines a few 
days ago, when he got better, and God knows where he has gone 
to. So that old American whom you call Nolten — and I dare 
say you're right in his name — is my only resource. I think he's 
friendly towards me ; and if I had followed his advice, I 
should never have come into this unlucky town at all. Perhaps 
he may bring one of his friends with him who has seen me 
there." 

"Don't you fancy the gold-diggers have nothing to do but to 
go riding about to attend juries," said Hale sententiously ; " but 



THE JURY. 



383 



old Nolten will come, I reckon, if he fancies he can be of any 
use. So you're really going to start to-night, Beckdorf ?" 

" Now, directly ! If I can only manage to find my horse in 
the dark." 

" I'd offer you mine," said Lanzot, " only I want to go with 
you." 

"Then pray give it me — you can do me no good; in fact, 
you'd only detain me, and I have nothing to fear. So good-bye 
for the present, sir — keep a good heart — by to-morrow, at noon, I 
hope to be back with good news." 

Golway nodded to him with a sad smile ; and the three Ger- 
mans, anxious to lose no further time, left the tent at once. 

" Those foreigners stick together like a bag of nails," said one 
of the Americans, who had hstened to the conversation with an 
incredulous air. 

The sheriff took no notice of the remark, but went up to tlie 
prisoner and unbound his hands. 

" There," he said, " he can't get away, for his feet are tied ; 
and he'll sit more comfortably now. Only take care. Bill, that 
he \don't stoop and untie them." 

Golway would have thanked him ; but he turned away, and 
threw himself on his bed. 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

THE JURY. 

Next morning a thick fog had spread itself oyer the flat, 
wrapping the whole valley in an impenetrable veil. This cir- 
cumstance did not tend to calm the excitement the events of the 
foregoing day had raised. Yague reports were carried through 
the camp that the Indians and Mexicans had again assembled in 
the hills, and were resolved to make a joint attack on the town ; 
and, strangely enough, their object was asserted to be the libera- 
tion of the English prisoner. Not one of the Americans went 
out to his work. Each with his rifle on his shoulder, the men 
strode to and fro through the camp, or stood in separate angry 
groups, discussing the measures to be adopted. 



384i 



THE JURY. 



The fog, which became so thick that nothing could be seen 
ten paces ofP, prevented them from ascertaining how far these 
reports were true or false ; and one or two random shots fired off 
in the mountains were sufficient to keep the excitement of the 
people at its highest pitch ; for these shots were taken as hostile 
signals concerted by the foe. 

One or two of the boldest spirits went out as scouts ; and 
Hetson had taken his revolver, and patrolled round the whole 
flat. Eut the mere fact that he had discovered nothing to justify 
alarm was not sufficient to quiet the rest, and they loudly de- 
manded that the alcalde should call together the jury to decide 
the fate of the prisoner. 

The feeling among the Americans towards the captive was 
almost uniformly hostile ; and even the quietest among them 
could not, or would not, give up the idea that he was a convict 
sent over from England, and that it was necessary to give the 
Britishers an example of the treatment such characters had to 
expect in California. 

Hale tried in vain to make them understand that they had not 
the right to execute sentence of death upon any man, even if 
they had caught him in the very act of murder. The people were 
not in the humour to see this fact, or, if they saw it, to acquiesce 
in it ; and the sheriff imparted to the alcalde his conviction that 
the fellows would take the law into their own hands if the 
prisoner should really be found guilty. 

Under these circumstances, Hetson thought it best to send 
Golway at once, with a sufficient escort, to the district court at 
Golden Bottom ; but the very mention of the plan raised great 
anger among the people, who told the alcalde, in so many plain 
words, that the Britisher had murdered one of themselves^ and 
should suffer for his crime where it had been committed : the 
district court was welcome to say what it liked. If the alcalde 
did not choose to let the prisoner have a jury, they would lead 
him away to the nearest tree, and judge him there ; which, after 
all, they declared the shortest and most sensible way of disposing 
of the business. 

Hetson tried, as far as he could, to conceal from his wife the 
animosity borne by the community towards the prisoner; but 
the thin lining of the tent was not a sufficient barrier to prevent 
her hearing the angry speeches of the excited crowd. Doctor 
Bascher scarcely quitted her side on this unhappy morning ; and 
Emile Lanzot, after a long conference with the Doctor, went out 
to sound the feelings of his fellow-countrymen, to see if they 
would support the judge, and protect the prisoner, in the event 



THE JUEY. 



3S5 



t^f a riot among the Americans. But he brought back sleuder 
comfort. Eischer was the only man who at once declared himself 
willing to help; the rest declined undertaking anything that might 
look like a demonstration ; and the Counsellor alone promised to 
attend the court — unarmed, of course. He seemed to think one of 
Lis abrupt rebukes would be quite sufficient to bring the turbulent 
Americans to reason ; but young Lanzot, much as he had been 
amused on previous occasions by the old fellow's eccentricities, 
declined his offer, and turned to the frenchmen, without better 
success. 

If it had been one of their own countrymen, they said, they 
would have supported him ; but they declined to interfere in any 
quarrels between Englishmen and Americans, which those two 
nations were perfectly competent to settle among themselves. 
They were determined to maintain their own rights in the 
mines, and would not therefore give the Americans what might 
be to the latter a welcome opportunity of beginning fresh quarrels. 

Hale had, moreover, informed the alcalde that a German had 
•started off on horseback the night before to go to Macalome, to 
bring over old Nolten as a witness for the prisoner ; and Hetson 
liad made up his mind not to let the jury assemble till late in the 
afternoon. He had, in addition, despatched a messeuger to 
Golden Gate in the person of the little ship-boy Jim, who had 
behaved so gallantly in the attack on the Mexicans. The youngster 
declared he didn't care for either Indians or senores ; and, being 
accommodated with Eischer's horse, he rode boldly away into the 
fog to deliver a letter to the judge of the district court, inform- 
ing that dignitary of the recent events. 

"More Hetson could not do ; but even this one active measure 
seemed to remove a weight from his mind. Whatever happened 
now, he had done his best, and the consequences would not rest 
with bim. 

Thus the morning passed heavily away. Dull and heavy, as 
the fog that wrapped the flat, were the thoughts that agitated 
«very breast in the little community. , Their heads, none the 
cooler for the festivity of the last evening, still whirled with 
excitement; and they seemed like men seeking for some 
object on which to expend their feverish restlessness. Woe to 
the unhappy man who falls into the hands of a mob while it is 
in this humour ! 

With painful impatience Doctor Edscher had counted the 
hours as they hurried by, and still the young German did not 
return with his witness. Twelve o'clock came,— one—two 
o'clock,— and still there were no signs of his approach. Had he, 



386 



THE JUEY. 



perliaps, lost 1 us way in tlio fvog? The supposition was by no 
means improbable ; for the thick wreaths still hung over the flat, 
and clung to the sides of the mountains with most provoking 
pertinacity, and seemed as if they never would move. \ 

The Americans, too, began to murmur, as time went on with- \ 
out any preparation being made for the trial. At last, with . 
Cook at their head, tlicy went to the alcalde, and declared that 
they would on no account consent to the postponement of the 
affair after four o'clock. The jury had already been chosen, | 
though the prisoner had a right of challenging some of the num- 
ber, for whom other jurymen would be substituted. But how J 
could he, a stranger, know friends from foes ? 

Four o'clock came, and the jurymen were going to assemble, 
according to their custom, in llctson's tent. But the alcalde 
had begged the sheriff to lend him his tent for the nonce, and 
Hale liad willingly granted his chief's request, for even he had an 
idea that the ladies were better away from such a noisy scene as 
the court would probably present. 

Siftly had not shown his face since their quarrel ; he had been ; 
active enough, nevertheless, and had succeeded in raising a pre- 
judice against the alcalde, in spite of the gallantry he had shown 
on the preceding day. But the better class of people kept aloof 
from the gambler ; though, angry that Hetson would not give up 
the "Britisher" to their tender mercies, they allowed the fiercer 
spirits — with the ever turbulent Briars at their head — to threaten 
violence if the prisoner were not delivered up to them, without 
making any effort to check the mutiny. 

Siftly could not imagine why Hetson should wish to see his 
enemy and rival at liberty ; but the knowledge that Hetson 
really did wish it was quite enough to make the vindictive man 
do his utmost to cross his plans. Hetson, that wavering, timid 
fellow, had dared to thwart him — Jam to whom he owed the 
position he held, and which had only been given to him becaus 
Siftly hoped to find the alcalde a passive tool for his purposes 
He must be put down, the gambler muttered, if he could not b 
turned to account ; and there could not be a more favourabl 
moment than the present to execute such a design. He would 
take good care that Hetson did not carry off the Spanish girl 
before she had fulfilled her contract ; and when once the 
meddling alcalde was gone, she and her father would be quite 
in his power. 

The rascal grinned with savage delight, as he painted the 
future in these agreeable colours ; and so he continued rumi 
nating, till the approach of the jury, who came trooping towards 



THE JUEY. 



3S7 



the sheriff's tent with a mob oE Americaus at their heels; roused 
him from his reverie. 

In the mean time, other Americans had come in from the 
neighbouring mines ; they had heard of the hostile proceedings 
of the Mexicans, and were hastening to their countrymen's 
assistance. The new comers all carried long rifles ; and many a 
sunburnt stalwart fellow among them had grown old in the 
backwoods, and in combats against wild beasts and wild Indians. 
Hale marked their arrival with considerable satisfaction ; for he 
knew many of them personally, and felt assured that they w-ould 
join the cause of law and order, rather than make common cause 
with Briars and his reckless troop, if matters came to the worst. 

The crowd soon grew^ too large for Hale's tent ; and it was at 
last determined that the court should be held in the open air- 
in the "red earth" behind the tents. A score of busy hands 
were directly at work to fill up a couple of pits, to level a suffi- 
cient space. A chair was placed for the alcalde on a little mound 
of earth ; and a couple of planks, laid upon stakes driven into 
the earth, served as 'seats for the jury. Siftly had intrigued m 
vain to be chosen a juryman; they would none of him, tor he 
was a reputed gambler. The Americans used, indeed, to waste 
their money at the gamine:-table ; but they disliked the men who 
made o-ambling a source^of livelihood, and considered them un- 
worthy of such an honourable position. Nobody expressed this 
opinion in so many plain words ; but the gamblers got hardly 
any votes, and the few who held with them were people ot their 
own stamp. And thus Siftly stood, with his poncho across his 
shoulders, and his broad-brimmed hat over his eyes, not lar irom 
Hetson's chair, to watch the progress of aflairs. 

It was half-past four o^clock when the prisoner appeared, led 
forward by his guards; and at the same moment H^'tson ap- 
proached from the opposite direction: it would have been Mi- 
cult to tell which was the accused and which the judge, so duidl) 
. pale did each of them appear. ^^.^u^mi^ the 

Many of the rough new comers came forward to welcon , t c 
alcalde; for Hale had told them how well he liad 
day before; and his trophy of victory, the Mexican ^^^^^^'^^ 
waving below the American ensign out m the iht ^ ook 
him heartily by the hand, and expressed their regret that tliey 
hadn't had their share of the fun.'' , . . , +1,^ :„,.v iook their 

It had become a little lighter ; and just ^hf Juin U^^^^^^ tuei 
seats, the sun pierced through the upper po tioi^ o t he lo 
showing the blue sky just above their heads, liut 
earth the mist still hung heavily. 

2 c 2 



388 



THE JUPvY. 



/ The preparations for the jury's accommodation were now com- 

pleted, and the whole conclave had assembled ; but Hetson still 
delayed, in the hope that the German might yet appear with his 
witness. At last the jury became impatient, and the Americans 
declaredthemselves quite tiredof what they called "his nonsense." 
There was a general cry for the trial to begin ; they would be put 
off no longer : and Hetson saw that the next hour would decide 
the prisoner's fate. Unwillingly, he gave the signal for the opening 
of the court. 

Erom the list of jurymen whose names had been handed in to 
him, Golway, acting upon Hale's advice, had struck out the name 
of Briars. At first he had refused to acknowledge their jurisdic- 
tion, and would have protested against the whole proceedings as 
illegal ; but Hale persuaded him to give up this design ; re- 
presenting, with perfect truth, that it would do the prisoner no 
good, and only make the common people more bitter against him 
than ever. 

Cook now stepped forward, — and, to do him justice, he told a 
plain unvarnished tale : how Johns, in whose company he had 
worked, had been found murdered and buried in the wood ; how 
he, the witness, had afterwards sold his horse to the prisoner, 
and received, in payment, a piece of gold, which he could declare 
on oath to have belonged to Johns, and which the latter would 
certainly not have parted with of his own free will. He went 
on to describe how they had dug out this piece, and two others 
of remarkable shape and appearance; whereof, certainly, only 
this one had been found in the prisoner's possession. Johns, 
poor fellow, had been much pleased at finding these pieces, and 
had declared he would take or send them to his mother ; and 
now he was l;ying murdered in his grave, and the poor mother at 
home would be waiting in vain, day after day, for news of him. 
If the stranger could give a satisfactory account of how he came 
by the bit of gold, it would prove his innocence ; if not, he 
ought to be made to suffer for it — at least that was his, Cook's, 
opinion. 

A fierce murmer ran through the court, when Cook concluded 
his evidence. By the picture he had conjured up, he had in- 
voluntarily struck a chord that vibrated in many a rough bosom ; 
and sympathy with the poor mother, who would wait in vain for 
her son's return, increased the disgust and hatred they felt 
towards his cowardly murderer. 

The feeling against him was at the strongest when the pri- 
soner began his defence ; but though he still looked pale, and his 
voice trembled at first, he soon grew calmer, and spoke out like 



THE jrrvY. 



389 



a man. With a sparkling eye and a raised voice, he indignantly 
denied all knowledge of the murder. He told them briefly how 
he had worked on the Macalome, but had soon got tired of it. 
He was a seaman, he said, and was going back to his old 
calling, when an unhappy error caused his arrest. ^ He had 
certainly not examined the gold he received as the price of his 
tent, tools, and other articles, so closely as to be able to tell each 
separate piece ; but the more he thought about the matter, the 
more certain he felt that he had received this piece in question 
from a man to whom he had sold his lame horse— though this 
man, so the sheriff told him, denied it. It was physically impos- 
sible, he continued, that he should have committed this murder, 
inasmuch as he had only left Macalome late in the evening of the 
day before yesterday ; and this, he could undertake to prove, if 
time and opportunity were given him to call witnesses. A 
youno- German had undertaken to bring witnesses for him, but 
had probably lost his way in the fog. In conclusion, he said he 
felt sure they would not pronounce a judgment upon any man till 
they had given him an opportunity of clearing himself; and, 
therefore, he demanded to be taken to Macalome, that he might 
prove his innocence. ^ -r- • i 

"Who the devil's to believe that!" roared Briars, savagely. 
"Take you to Macalome, eh ! That you may bolt on the way, 
with this confounded fog to help you off. Hadn't you better 
send to your own rotten old country at once for witnesses 

"SHence in court," cried the sheriff. "Briars, you ve no 
right to put in your word here." ^ 

"Haven't I, thouijh?" retorted Briars, m a tone of defiance. 
"We'll soon see who's got most to say here, we or the quiil- 
drivers. Let him show where he got the bit of gold Irom— it he 
can't, he'll have to swing." ^ ... „f hr^ 

" Confound you," roared Hale m a passion, and m a moment lie 
would have seized the rioter by the collar; but Hetson mter- 

^"""Stop, Hale," he cried; "never mind the follow and his 
threats just now, but call Boyles hither to answer the prisoner s 
charge against him." . cfiv'^pro 

"Boyles! Hallo, Bovles !" shouted a dozen voices, ^ A\ acre 
the deuce has he got to; he was here not long ago. i>oUcs . 

""He went off into the street of tents to look Jor Jim ai^ 
others were sent to his own tent ana to Kenton j J^^^^^^^^^^ 
purpose. But he was nowhere to be found and ^1^ 
quarter of an hour the messengers came back without him. 



390 



THE JUHY. 



"What the mischief d'ye want Boyles for, at all/' shouted 
Briars, crowding forward agahi. " Swear me as a witness 
instead of him, for I was lliere when Hale asked him about the 
bit of gold. He said he knew nothing about it, and had never 
seen it iu his life. Besides, it's nothing but a lie, trumped up 
by the fellow yonder." 

"Thank you, sir," answered Hetson, glad of the opportunity 
the interruption afforded ; " we can't substitute your testimony 
for that of another man; and until Boyles is found, this trial 
cannot go on." 

" I should think," said Siftly, "that the sheriff, who spoke 
with the man, would be the best substitute for him. We 
Americans have made up our minds that this affair shall be 
pushed on, and there is not one among us who considers Boyles 
capable of committing murder." 

"I shall not come forward for Boyles," said Hale. "I 
certainly questioned him, and showed him the piece of gold ; and 
he told me he knew nothing about it." 

" Well, what do we want more ?" interrupted Briars, bois- 
terously — " 

" But his manner did not please me at all," continued Hale 
quietly ; " he didn't seem quite certain about it himself ; and, at 
any rate, he may repeat his answer here, on oath. Besides, I 
gave him notice that he would have to appear in court." 

"Gentlemen of the Jui-y !" said Hetson, "the whole evidence 
against the prisoner rests on the circumstance of that one piece 
of gold being found in his possession, and the man from whom 
he believes he received it is not here, although he has been 
summoned. I am, consequently, of opinion that I am right in 
adjourning the court until this witness is found." 

" And supposing Boyles doesn't appear ?" urged Siftly ; 
" suppose he has gone out prospecting somewhere in the moun- 
tains, without thinking of your court at all ?" 

"Then I shall release the prisoner, for want of evidence 
against him," answered the judge coldly. 

" And do you intend to stand that, my boys ?" roared Briars, 
turning round to his gang ; " shall we let these infernal Aus- 
tralian convicts come here with pistols and knives murdering 
American citizens, and then let them get off scot-free and 
laugh at us, because the judge and the sheriff are afraid 

" The man is gialty," cried many voices in reply, and Siftly's 
among them ; " what do we want with Boyles ? — we've nothing 
to do with him." 

"Then we wont stand shuiliing here any longer," yelled 



THE JURY. 



391 



Briars, rasbing forward as lie spoke. 2\ow then, my bold boys, 
follow me," and with Siftly and nine or ten others, he made a 
rush at the prisoner. 

"Briars, I warn you !" cried Hale. " You're interfermg with 
my office,— and by Heaven, you shan't touch a hair of the mau's 
head without my leave." 

"Just as you please," blustered Siftly; and he seized the 
prisoner by the shoulder to drag liitn away. But a rough hand 
seized him by the throat, and thrust him back with such violence 
that he staggered, and almost measured bis length on the 
ground. ^ . 

"Death and fury!" yelled the gambler, foammg with rage, 
" that white-faced vagabond again ; you're just m tune, my lad ; 
and he drew his revolver from his pocket. But before he could 
take aim, Lauzot had rushed in and seized hiui by the throat, 
while one of the jurymen snatched the weapon, doubly dangerous 
in a crowd, from his grasp. , n i i 

The struggle between Briars and tue sheriff, though it lasted 
only a few seconds, did not end so harmlessly ; for when Hale 
sprano- forward with Lauzot in the prisoner's detence, Briars, 
who was raging like a wild beast, aimed such a territic blow at the 
sheriff's face with the brass-bound stock of his rifle, that it would 
have shattered his skull if it had struck him fairly. As it was, he 
had barely time to spring aside ; and even then the sharp edge 
laid his cheek open. Hale, however, was quicker 
revolver than Siftly; and, before Briars could repeat the blow 
a shot, fired straight in his face, laid hun dead upon the 

^The^whole affair had passed in less than half a minute, and the 
newly-arrived troop of Americans had taken no part in the con- 
troversy so long as it continued merely a wordy quarrel ; but no 
/ooner had Brfars begun a forcible attack, and «ittly drawn his 
they grasped their rifles, and t^y c-c 
striding across the rioter's body, and drew up between the 
wounded sheriff and the prisoner ^ 

Their leader, or at least he who seemed P.^f^^f ^J'^^^^^ 
authority among them, was a man of short stat e, buU^^^^^^^^^ 
knit, dressed in a leather hun m-shirt, leggu , 
and with long snow-white hair l^^l^^S over h . shou^^^^ 
was well known in the mmes under the title of the Uxm^ 

""^oyoucallyourselvesAmericansP'^slioutedth^ 
nomeasured voice, to the rioters, 1-e-sentmg^^^^^^ fS'tS^^ 
at them. " Shame on you, ye rascals ; dained ii i aon 



392 



THE JURY. 



light into the first scamp who lifts a hand against any one here, 
as sure as I've got my hand on the trigger now ! " 

" Let me go ! " screamed Siftly, too much maddened with rage 
to hear or notice the threat. "I must have his heart's 
blood 

" Stand away from him, behind there ! " shouted the sheriff, 
springing forward, almost as angry as Siftly himself, with the 
blood streaming down his face, and his revolver cocked in his 
hand. One step forward, my lad, — only one, and you and he 
will be buried together." 

"Cowardly dogs," hissed Siftly, with a livid face. "All 
against one, for the sake of a rascally Britisher. There isn't a 
man among ye who dares to stand alone against me." 

"If you desire it, sir," observed Lanzot, proudly, "I shall be 
at your service to-morrow morning. I've waited for you once 
in vain, already." 

" Good — d — n it, I'll take you at your word, my boy," 
answered Siftly, with savage joy. "To-morrow morning, at 
seven o'clock, by the hill yonder." 

Lanzot bowed slightly, and would have answered, but the 
sound of hoofs came clattering along the road. 

" Nolten, by Jove ! " as three horsemen became visible, 
dashing up the street among the tents. " Nolten and Beck- 
dorf!" 

" Too late ? " asked the old man, anxiously, as his eyes fell on 
the prostrate body. 

" Too late, if you came to help that mutinous scoundrel, 
Nolten," answered the old hunter, with a chuckle ; " but not 
for the prisoner. Do you come as a witness for or against 
him?" 

"Eor him, Mackinney — for him! "replied Nolten, hastily, and 
he sprang from his saddle, and turned his horse loose ; "and as I 
perceive, I'm in time, thank God!" 

"Robins!" shouted Golway, joyfully, as he recognized the 
man who accompanied Nolten ; " that's friendly of you, that you 
haven't left me in the lurch." 

" Left you in the lurch ! " repeated Bobins, a handsome young 
American, running up to him to shake hands ; then suddenly 
noticing the cords with which Golway was bound, he drew his 
knife from its sheath, and at once cut them asunder. 

" My good friends," he cried eagerly, to the Americans, who 
came crowding round in surprise at this energetic proceeding, 
" you've accused this man of committing a murder, and there 
isn't a better felloe on the face of the earth. He nursed me 



THE JUEY. 



393 



when I was sick, like a brother and I can take my bible oath 
tjaat he never left Macalomes for a single quarter of an Lour 
till the day before yesterday, in the evening, when we parted." 

" If you want any other witness, Tm ready," said okl Nolteii; 
" and I reckon you know me well enough to take my word. If 
this young fellow has gold that belonged to the murdered man, 
he has nothing to do with his death." 

"Indeed!" cried Hale; "then we've nothmg farther to do 
but to look up this Mr. Boyles— for I've a notion that he knows 
more about this mattter. Hurrah, boys 1 does any of you object 
to letting the Britisher go now? Hallo! where the deuce are the 
jury ? " 

" Gone to the deuce. Hale," answered one of the Americans, 
with a laugh. "You know there's no keeping the fellows 
together." 

Hetson was perhaps the only man present who had remained 
perfectly quiet during the late scene of uproar. He had kept 
his revolver firmly in his hand, and seemed to wait for the right 
moment to interfere ; and when the strange Americans took the 
affair into their hands, he at once laid down his weapon. 

Now he came down from his seat, and touching Golway on 
the shoulder, said in a tone of genuine pleasure,— 

" Sir, you are free ; and sorry as I still am, that you should have 
met with such a disagreeable adventure here, on the other hand, 
I rejoice at being able to promise you perfect security, so long- 
as you choose to remain with us." 

"Mr. Hetson " 

" Come with me," interrupted the alcalde, looking his rival 
full in the face. "Jenny has been very anxious about you." 

Golway was silent for a moment. Then he replied in a low 
voice, — 

"Mr. Hetson, I think you had better let mc go. If Ihc 
people her^ had not forcibly detained me, I should have been far 
off by this time." 

Hetson made no reply, except what was conveyed in a hearty 
shake of the hand; but" the two men understood one another 
perfectly. 

Robins had in the mean time been telling his countrymen 
among whom he recognized several acquaintances, how; he had 
worked in company with this Englishman, until he icU sick ; and 
how carefully the latter had nursed him, and had even insisted ou 
sharing with him the money he earned while he, Kobms was 
lying helpless on his back. He himself had mtcndod to leave 
Macalome, and had only by mere chance been detained m lUe 



394 



THE JURY. 



nei^hbourliood, where he met Nolten and the young German. 
Nolten knew him, and remembered that he had been the 
Britisher's partner, — and directly he heard in what a scrape his 
friend had got, he threw himself on his horse, and at once rode 
off to his assistance. 

When Cook lieard the matter thus satisfactorily explained, he 
felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of having been the sole 
cause of bringing an innocent man into such a dangerous scrape. 
With all his bluntness, he was a straightforward, good- 
natured fellow ; so, going np to the prisoner, he shook hands 
with him, and said in his rough way — 

" Stranger, I'm real sorry to have pulled you up so short here, 
and, as it appears, without any reason. But Nolten and Bobins 
are respectable men, and they both say you're an honest fellow. 
So I hope you won't bear malice. But I'd give my little finger 
to know who really did the deed. By the way, you're not above 
taking a bit of advice, I suppose ? " 

" Certainly not. What is your advice ? " 

Cook gave a meaning glance at the gamblers and their friends, 
who were carrying away the body of Briars, and said, in a low 
voice. 

It's just this : I'd advise you to keep clear of those fellows 
yonder. Human life is very cheap with them ; one would think 
they priced your life by the value of their own." 
. "I don't think I shall fall into their hands again," said 
Golway, with a melancholy smile. "I'm going to leave 
California." 

" Seen enough of it — eh ? Well, do you know," continued 
Cook, in his blunt way, *'it isn't the best place in the world for 
Britishers, for one really never knows how one stands with 
them. Still, we ought to have been a little more careful, I 
grant you. A very little more, and we should have hung you up 
this morning." 

Hetson now took the Englishman's arm in his own, and led 
him away towards his tent." 

" Hallo, sir ! " cried Cook, after them ; you can have your 
horse whenever you please. I'll take good care of it mean- 
while." 

Golway nodded to him, and then walked with the alcalde for a 
short distance, uncertain what course to take. At last, when 
the rest were out of hearing, he stopped, and said in a friendly, 
but still a decided tone — 

"Mr. Hetson, I am fully sensible of your kindness and confi- 
dence, in wishing to introduce me, who have, unfortunately, been 



THE JUEY. 



395 



such a thorn in your side, into the circle of your domestic life; 
but do not let us deceive ourselves in the flush of our new friend- 
ship. It is not well done to tear open wounds that have scarcely 
yet ceased to bleed. What is done cannot be undone ; and, 
believe me, I have prayed — earnestly and sincerely prayed, — 
that Jenny— forgive me— that— that Mrs. Eetson might be as 
happy with you as I had fondly hoped to make her. Tell her 
the good news of my release — 1 am sure she will be glad,— and 
let that be sufficient. 1^'ate brought us together here, contrary 
to my wish ; but perhaps it is better so— it will be a kind of 
conclusion to the feelings which have disturbed our peace— a 
longer tarrying w^ould be bad for both of us." 

"But you must not part from us in this way," urged 
Hetson. . , 

"iN^o," replied Golway. "The sun is just setting, ana i 
hardly think I could find ray way to Stockton m the dark. I 
shall stay here till to-morrow morning. If you will allow me, 
I shall come over to your tent to take leave of you both." 

Hetson stood for a few moments looking thoughtfully on the 
ground. At last he heartily shook the Englisbmaii^s proffered 
hand, and said in a tone of hearty admiration,— 

" Golway you are a good fellow— a man of honour; and happy 
as I am in the possession of Jenny, I am sure that she would 
have been a luckier woman if you had been her husband. But 
you are right in what you say ; act as you tbmk best. 15ut i 
cannot consent to let you run the risk of being insulted or in- 
iured in this place, where there are, unfortunately, many turbulent 
characters; and to make sure of your safety, 1 can recommend 
you no better and more upright man for a host than our shentt, 
Mr Ha^e " 

I have taxed his hospitality already," said Golway, with a 
s mile 

" Unfortimatelv, you have. But you stand iu a different posi- 
tion now. If you are determined not to come with me, at \cast 
foUow my advice, and do not quit his tent t us evening tno gh 

shall keep our eyes upon the riotous fellows, too .» 
better not to get in their way ; for tl'CJ are sure to he s.n ^c 
now that one of their number has been shot. Hue come 
Hale; one word to him, and you will be well and .My pro 
vided for." 

It was after sunset, and a meeting of /' Anicricau cifcns/J 
friends of the deceased Briars assembled m 
began their proceedings with drunken and noisy noting. An^ry 



30G 



IHE JURY. 



mutinous speeches were made, and the people seemed ready to 
fight their way with fire and sword through all opposition ; but 
while the uproar was at its height, the sound of hoofs was heard 
clattering along the street, and a number of men from Golden 
Bottom, led by the little Sailor Jim, the majority of them dressed 
in hunting-shirts, and with long rifles on their shoulders, came 
galloping into the town, and stopped before tlie alcalde's tent. 

The topers and gamblers and their friends, disturbed in their 
uproar by the approach of this cavalcade, lost no time in seeking 
to gain over the new comers to their side. These men, however, 
were not a motley crew collected at random, but a picked troop, led 
on by the judge of Golden Bottom in person, and sworn to main- 
tain the law. They distrusted the overtures of the half-drunken 
revellers, put back the full glasses held out to them, and kept 
steadily in their ranks beside their horses, till their leader had 
been closeted for some time with the alcalde and the sheriff, and 
had learned from them all the events of the last few davs. After 
this interview. Hale had their horses led away to a safe and fer- 
tile grazing place, while the men themselves were accommodated 
with quarters for the night in one of the more respectable drink- 
ing tents, where no gambling was allowed. 

The quiet, determined bearing of these men was just the thing 
to impress the noisy crew, who, after their vain attempt at fra- 
ternization, went back to Kenton's in dudgeon. One or two orators 
rose to speak ; but somehow the words seemed to stick in their 
throats, and their audience had become tame and disheartened ; 
and so it came to pass that, with the exception of those who 
stayed up to pass the rest of the evening at the gaming-tables, 
the majority went home to bed before ten o'clock, without car- 
rying into eifect the threats, uttered in the earlier part of the 
evening, of attacking the tents of the alcalde and sheriff, and 
burning every foreigner in the place out of house and home. 

It was about midnight when Smith, who had made his first 
appearance in public since his misfortune, came lounging up the 
street, with Siftly at his side, towards the tent they inhabited 
together. They walked on in silence, each absorbed in his own 
reflections, and neither feeling inclined to begin a conversation. 
They had proceeded about half the distance between Kenton's 
tent and their own, when they suddenly heard a shrill but not a 
very loud cry, which seemed to come from the ground close to 
them. 

''What was that ?" said Siftly, standing still to look round him. 
"An owl," answered Smith, carelessly. 
" It caiGC from the ground." 



THE JUKY. 



397 



"Catching mice, I suppose. Now, it's just in front of us ; do 
you hear?" 

The same cry resounded about a hundred paces in advance, 
and Siftly, turning again in the direction whence he had first 
heard it, listened intently ; but all was still. Only the leaves 
of a few trees, left standiug for the sake of their 'sliade, were 
heard to rustle, and the crickets chii7)ed. There was little to be 
seen; for the night was dark, and the fog liad come down after 
•sunset, and lay thicker than ever on the damp earth. 

But hardly had the two men passed on, when a dark form rose 
cautiously from the earth, a few paces from where they had been 
standing, and glided noiselessly on, like a spectre, among the 
tents. 

"What about that green German chap, you were going to 
fight to-morrow morning?" asked Smith after a short pause. 
" The plan you told me of would have been all very well, if these 
fellows had not come over from Golden Bottom ; but now I don't 
care to risk my neck by joining in it." 

" There'd be more risk for your neck than for your ears, at 
any rate," sneered Siftly. 

" It's all very well for you to talk," answered the cropped 
gambler, moodily; "but I know one thing, namek, that if tliose 
fellows are quartered here long, the place will be too warm for 
me ; and I d rather look out for a new opcniug, a httle nearer 
to the capital." 

"Why, you're not afraid of the fellows, I hope?" cried 
Siftly. "^"Why, I look upon them as so many new customers, 
who'll be bringing their gold into our tent to-morrow evening. 
What harm can they do us ?" 

As they talked, a dark mass was gliding slowly like a snake 
along the ground; when they came nearer it stopped, and 
remained lying motionless. Smith was walking directly towards 
it, and must have stepped upon it, if he had not suddenly started 
to one side. 

" What's the matter ? " asked his companion. 

" Oh, nothing but one of those rascally stumps left Iving la 
the middle of the way for a man to break his legs over in the 
night," grumbled Smith in answer. " I was very nearly tunihimg 

over it." 1 o • 1 1 1 

When the two had passed, the object whicli Smith had mis- 
taken for a stump rose slowly from the ground. It proved to ho 
a man, not tall, but strondy built, who, without losmg a moment, 
walked after the two companions noiselessly, keeping exact stop 
with them. Another figure joined him, and a slight hissing 



398 



THE JURY. 



noise, uttered by one of tliem, Tvas ansvrered by a similar signal 
not far off. 

"What tlie deuce can tliose things be, that seem to be s\7arm- 
iDg about, to-night ?" observed Smith, restlessly. "Are they 
really owls, I wonder 

" I mean to carry out that affair wdth the Spanish girl. Smith,'* 
said Siftly, who had not heard the sounds, and did not heed his 
companion's remark. " Play debts must be paid. The girl is 
not of age yet, and not a court in all California can save her. 
The district judge will give Master Hetson a snubbing, you'll 
see, particularly after this aifair with the Mexicans. Hang it, I 
will have her, — and it would be the first time in my life I had 
failed in anything I'd set my heart on." 

"Take care what you're about, Siftly," said the cautious 
Smith ; " the rascals here in the camp don't hold us in much 
esteem, and have begun to say very disagreeable things." 

"Nonsense! what can they do?" retorted Siftly, with a 
scornful laugh. " Of course, when they've lost their money 
they're as wild as bulls ; but that's only till they have got hold 
of some more, and then they come back with it to our tables as 
regularly as clockwork. They can't do without us, my lad ; 
they'd be dying for something to do, if it were not for us." 

In the mean time the two had reached their tent. They would 
not have gone in so quietly, if they could have seen certain dark 
figures who had been there before, and had stood listening for 
them near the entrance. Now everything was silent. 

At the entrance of the tent stood a matchbox. Siftly took it 
up, and struck a light. In the tent two rude bed-places had been 
erected of stakes rammed into the earth, and a few boards nailed 
across, with a rather hard mattress and a woollen rug for bedding, 
in addition to the Californian cloak, which both the gamblers 
wore. By the side of each bed was a little table, on which each 
man laid his revolver and his knife. Their gold they wxre accus- 
tomed to take into bed with them, so that it might be at hand 
in case of emergency. 

Smith, whose wounds were still stiff and sore, wrapped him- 
self tightly in his woollen coverlet ; but Siftly, on whose little 
table the light was burning, sat for a long time, leaning his head 
on his hand, looking darkly at the floor, with clenched teeth and 
knitted brow. 

Once the woollen coverlet of his bed, that hung down almost 
to the ground, moved ; the lower edge was raised slowly and 
cautiously, and a dark eye peered out from beneath : but the 
light was still burning. 



LEAVE-TAKING. 399 

" Smith !" said Siftly, starting-—'^ Saiitli !" 

There was no reply, and Smith's quiet breathing showed that 
he was fast asleep. "Siftly cursed him for a lazy dog, put out 
the light, and wrapping himself in his poncho, addressed himself 
to slumber. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



LEAVE-TAKINCr. 



Next morning brought no change of weather. The same imst 
hung upon the valley, and the air was raw and cold. The day 
seemed to struggle hard to pierce the thick wreaths, and the 
sky was hidden in a mantle of leaden gray. -, . -n . 

Scarcely had the first tokens of dawn appeared m the JLast, 
when the canvass curtain of Hale's tent was thrust asiae, and a 
man entered with a whispered Hallo, Hale ! '\ 

"Hallo'— who's there?" cried the sheriff m reply, seeing a 
form, but unable in the imperfect light to recognize lus visitor 
As he spoke, he involuntarily laid his hand on the revolver at 

'HSli^'^SS continued the intruder in the same 

devil of a hurry, fhat you cant e^t for 
daylight," answered the sleepy shenfi, crossly. VMio arc 
you?" 

^'ThSuce!" cried Hale, wide awake in a moment ; ami he 
jumped out o7 bed with a boun^^ " What brmgs yo. here I 

hope it isn't your conscience." . .rented to tro 

" Yes it is, though," staminered the visitor. T. wautccl go 

away from here, but I couldn't." ^/.i^, exclaimed the 
- What !-was it ^/ou who murdered Johns cxc u 

sheriff in a startled voice. He knew ^oy^^^^^^^ 

careless man, but had never supposed him capamc 

crime. „ . i -d i^^ rrio-lifrnod in his turn at 



LEAYE-TAKIIsG. 



God ! uow that the poor devil of a Britisher has not been 
huug." 

"But you kuow the murderer ! " 

suspect some one, certainly," answered Boyles. 
" And his name is ?" 

"Siftly." Boyles said this half in a whisper, and glanced 
nervously over his shoulder, as if he feared to see the gambler 
standing behind him. 

" Did you hear tliat, sir ?" asked the sheriff, speaking to some 
one at the further end of the tent. 

"!For Heaven's sake! whom have you got here?" faltered 
Boyles, almost siukiug with fright. 

"The man whom our worthy jurymen and citizens so nearly 
murdered yesterday," answered the sheriff, sternly. " So he 
had the gold from you?" 

" Yes," groaned the young man. " I was afraid Siftly would 
shoot me dead if I said anything, and so I denied it ; but now I 
can bear it no longer. That man is innocent. The day before 
the body was found, Siftly came into the camp. I knew him, 
and told him in conversation of that Mr. Smith's being here in 
the camp, with whom he's now so thick. He was so glad to 
hear it, that he lent me a few ounces of gold." 

" He did not seem to be very partial to Mr. Smith at that 
time?" 

" No ; I thought he seemed angry with him for some reason 
or other, — and I wondered very much to see them in partnership 
next day." 

"And did you remark anything unusual about Siftly on that 
occasion ?" 

" Yes ; but I only remembered it afterwards. When he gave 
me the gold I saw blood upon his hand. He said he had scratched 
himself with the brambles." 

" And have you spoken to him about this ?" 

" Yes — not about the blood, but about the piece of gold. He 
says he won it at play from a Mexican, but that he would not be 
mixed up in the affair ; and swore to have my life if I said a word 
about it. Now the secret is out — now you know all. I have 
eased my conscience, so let me go. If Siftly finds me out, he'll 
.shoot me, as sure as I stand here. You don't know that man, 
and — I should not be the first." 

" No, my boy," said Hale, who had been hurrying on his clothes 
during the recital, "I cannot let'you go now; for without you our 
whole case would fall to the ground. But you may depend upon 
it the rascal shall do you no harm : I'll be answerable for your 



LEAVE-TAKING. 



safety. But for your own justification you must stop here now ; 
for, after your confession that you really paid the gold to the 
Britisher, every one would at once suspect you to be the mur- 
derer, and Siftly would be the very first to throw the imputation 
upon you if you ran away. Leave me to see that he's made hai*m- 
less before he is confronted with you. You'll always have time 
afterwards to go your way. Now stay here for an instant with 
Golway, — I shairbe back in five minutes. You won't go away r 
— you'll promise me that ? " 

" I shall stay here," said Boyles faintly, and he sank down on 
a chair; while Hale, after whispering a few words to the English- 
man, left the tent. IStill he did nof seem to trast Boyles ; for in 
less than two minutes he was back again, walking impatiently \\\) 
and down before the tent. He had only roused Cook, who sle})t 
in a tent close by, and exhorted him to come with the alcalde 
without a moment's loss of time. 

Ten minutes afterwards Cook and Hetson stood in the 
tent ; and having been hurriedly made acquainted with the sub- 
stance of Boyle's confession, Hetson went away to wake up the 
district judge of Golden Bottom and his people. They proposed 
to surround Siftk's tent, and then to arrest him. 

The men of Golden Bottom soon appeared, rifle in hand, before 
the sheriff's tent. Two of them were left behind with Boyles, to 
prevent any attempt at escape, and the rest went rapuily and 
noiselessly along the street till they reached the tent mdicatcd by 
the sheriff. . 

By this time it was broad day : a dead silence reigned tlirough- 

out the flat. i • ^ i. ^ i i 

Here and there a dealer looked cui'iously from his tent, attracted 
by the regular tramp of the column; but no one accosted tlicm ; 
and Siftly's tent was surrounded by armed men before the nimatcs 
could have had any suspicion of danger. . , i r 

On the wav they had decided upon the plan to be adopted ; lor 
it was expected the gambler would make a desperate rcsistanre it 
he really felt himself guilty. Escape was impossible, tor the w loic 
place was surrounded by men; and there was, moreover, a deep 
Me on the side towards the mountains. ^rU-.^.n^A 

Accompanied by two stalwart young fellows, Hale adunuc 
towards the entrance. All three had ^licir rcvo vers f^^ 
instant use ; but no sound was heard from wi hni ^^^^^^^ 
feeble moaning. They listened : presently al 
and the sheriff! with his weapon advanced .1^^^. ? 1^^^^ I^"' 
back with his left the curtain that concealed he , 

" Siftly, in the name of the law I but he stopped abrupt!} , 

2 D 



402 



LEAYE-TAKING. 



and stood petrified with horror at the spectacle lie beheld. He 
could not utter a sound, but only motioned to the rest with his 
hand, beckoning them to advance. 

Over the gambler Siftly their pov/er was gone. His soul was 
standing before a higher Judge; but before them they saw his 
corpse, so horribly mutilated that even the hardy backwoodsmen, 
accustomed as they were to spectacles of death, turned pale and 
sick. 

The body lay half across the bed in which the murderers had 
found their victim. Any one of the hundred wounds with which 
it was pierced would have been fatal. Along band of black hair 
was wound tightly round the throat, and the other end fastened 
into a nail in one of the bed-posts, so as to support the corpse iu 
a half-erect posture. 

On the bed lay Smith, his hands and feet tightly bound 
together, and fastened in such a way to the bed-post that he 
could not move a limb ; he had been gagged moreover. But he 
did not appear to have suffered any bodily harm ; and as soon as- 
the spectators had recovered from their first emotions of surprise, 
and horror, they hastened to free the poor wretch from his 
bonds. 

Though the murder had been committed before his eyes. 
Smith could give no account of the perpetrators. In the middle 
of the night, so far as he could judge of the time, he had been 
seized by rude hands, and as soon as he opened his lips to call 
on Siftly for aid, a gag bad been thrust into his mouth, to pre- 
vent his raising an alarm. He fancied the tent had been filled 
with dark figures, and could almost swear that they were Chinese. 
But presently a cloth had been fiung over his head so that he 
could only see that they had struck a light. Then he heard 
Siftly's cries and groans ; and then everything was quiet, the 
light was extinguished, and the foes disappeared noiselessly as 
they had come. 

The Americans were not long in doubt as to the perpetrators 
of the deed, and the cause which had actuated them. Hale well 
remembered the events of the day on which the two men, whose 
deeds had brought such tragic consequences upon them, had 
pounced upon the poor Chinamen in the fiat, ill-used and 
plundered them. The Chinese did not seem to have any wish ta 
conceal the revenge they had taken ; for with the veiy pigtail 
he had so wantonly severed from the head of their leader Siftly 
had been strangled and afterwards hung up. 

Some of the Americans were for pursuing the murderers at 
once ; but Hale held them back until he should have searched the 



LE AYE- TAKING. 



m 



tent, explaining meanwhile how the Chinese had been, without 
provocation, beaten and robbed by the two men, Siflly and 
Briars. 

That their only object had been revenge for past injuries, was 
evident enough i'rom the state of the gambler's store of gold, 
which lay untouched, and for which the Chinamen had not even 
stopped to look. 

When Hale, assisted by Hetson and Cook, looked over Siftly's 
separate stock, Boyles's suspicion was found verified. There 
were two pieces, — one in the form of a cross, and another of a 
triangular shape, with three little fragments of quartz embedded 
in it, — which Cook at once identified as having been t he property 
of his^poor friend Johns. 

Smith was, indeed, unbound ; but they did not set him free, for 
it was expected he would make some further disclosures respect- 
ing his late partner. There was no need of using threats with 
the poor devil who had lately met with such ill-luck, to make 
him tell what he knew ; he was compktely prostrated, mentally 
as well as physically. Pale and breathless, and almost too weak 
to stand on his feet, he sat huddled together on the side of liis 
bed; and though he had evidently no suspicion of Siftly's 
guilt with regard to Johns, he yet confessed, voluntarily, that 
his partner tuid set fire to some houses in San Francisco, in 
order to steal the gold belonging to the other players iu the 
Parker House in the confusion. He had just enough left of his 
old cunning to disguise his own share in this transaction, and 
be begged piteously to be allowed to go ;— he would leave the 
mines instantly, and promise, on his honoiir! never to come back. 

There was no particular charge against the luckless Mr. 
Smith ;— and it was considered advisable, considering tlie ex- 
cited state of the town, not to proceed rigorously au-ainj^t an 
American, without real necessity for such a step. So, after a 
short consultation, they took him at his word. His horse was 
saddled,— and a slight hint that it would perhaps be best lor 
him to hasten his departure as much as possi])lo was sullieient 
to send him off at once. A quarter of an hour afterwards he wjis 
in the saddle, and without waiting for breakfast, without bid- 
ding farewell to a single friend or leaving one man t(i rc^ct 
his departure, he was trotting away, via Stockton, for ban 
I'rancisco. „ , , , . , . 

It was unanimously determined, that all the gold found in 
Siftly's possession, should be sent to Missouri, to the "]^^l'^!^r o^ 
the murdered Johns; and Hetson was intrusted witii the liUlii- 
ment of this decree. 

2 n 2 



404 



LEAVE-TAKING. 



Indignant at the Chinamen's barbarity, certain active spirits 
set off to overtake Siftly's murderers — though Hale grumbled, 
and swore they ought to be rather obliged to the Celestials for 
ridding them of such a villain. Pursuit, however, was rendered 
almost impossible by the thick mist ; — and the Chinamen had got 
too good a start ; three days afterwards, the active spirits came 
back, having had their journey for their pains. 

One man at least felt really grateful to the Chinese, 
who, by revenging themselves on Siftly, had prevented that 
ferocious person from doing him an injury — this man was, of 
course, Boyles. Siftly's death, cleared up the mystery of the 
murder ; but it had another effect, and a good one. The more 
respectable among the Americans saw how dangerous it was to 
allow the gambling fraternity to carry on their nefarious trade 
among them. Smith's rapid flight, which did not seem to argue 
a very quiet conscience, strengthened them in this impression. 
In an orderly meeting held the same morning, it was determined 
that all professed gamblers should be ordered to quit Paradise 
and Golden Bottom ; and the proprietors of drinking-tents were 
flatly forbidden to allow the cheating game of hazard " to be 
played in their establishments. 

The majority of these objectionable characters did not even 
wait for the summons to depart. The death of Briars and Siftly, 
and Smith's rapid disappearance, had so disheartened them, that 
they hardly waited to hear the result of the meeting, before they 
packed up their few movables, saddled their horses, and rode off, 
almost indifferent in what direction they went. There were 
plenty of mining towns where they could pursue their profession 
without molestation or annoyance \ and with this reflection they 
consoled themselves. 

Baron Lanzot, and his second. Count Beckdorf, unconscious of 
the events of the night, had made their preparations for the pro- 
jected duel, and were just about to proceed to the place appointed 
for the meeting, when they were met by the intelligence of 
Siftly's death. 

" Well, I can scarcely regret it !" was Beckdorf's observation. 
It was quite disagreeable to me to put you on a par with such 
a scamp ; — and now" there will be no shots exchanged." 

"I could not have avoided meeting him," said Lanzot. ^'Our 
scrupulous ideas with regard to equality in a duel would scarcely 
pass current here in the mines ; and my disgust at the fellow 
would have been taken for cowardice. Now he is dead, and can 
do no more harm, — and the Chinese have saved me the trouble 
and anxiety of undermining his schemes. But here comes 



LEAVE-TAKING. 



405 



Doctor Eascher. What, Doctor, all equipped again ? iVrc you 

going away ? And whither ?" 

"Have you not heard what has occurred in the night :" 

" To those two American gamblers ? Yes. But that cannot 

affect you !" 

"It should not, and yet it does," answered the old man. 
" Mine is not the time of life at which a man can take pleasure 
in such wild scenes as are enacted here. 1 have reached those 
years when one begins to wish for rest and quiet — in so far, of 
course, as they can be combined with my scientiilc pursuits. 
Considering the state of the country here — over-run by Mexicans, 
Indians, and vagabond garablers— 1 should scarcely feel comforta- 
ble, and would prefer returning to the Lower Calaveres ; where 
there is quite a treasure to be found, in the way of plants and 
flowers." 

" And so you really intend to start to-day r" 

"Yes; for I have met with an admirable travelling companion. 
I shall ride with Mr. Golway, and we are only waiting for the 
return of my friend Hetson, who has still some arrangements to 
make in that wretched Siftly's tent. I suppose, my dear JBarou, 
you ride with us ?" 

"I !" exclaimed Lanzot, with quite a start of alarm. 

" Well, and why not? Did you not tell me yesterday evening, 
that you would quit the mines, as soon as you had settled 
accounts with that miserable man whose fate has overtaken hiui 
to-day in such a sudden and awful manner ?" 

"Yes,— certainly," stammered Lanzot. "I— I veally intcudeil 
— but, you see, I've been here such a short time, and sliould hkc 
to look about me a little more." 

"Will you think me very rude," suggested the Doctor, "it 
I tell you my conviction that you have staved hero too long 

already ? " i i i i i 

Lanzot reddened; he made no reply, however, !)iil only lookcil 
musingly on the ground. . 

"Have you considered, my dear Lanzot," continued the old 
man, in a kindly and a hearty tone, "that after you have done 
with this wild miner's life, vou Avill want to return to your 
country and to your family? You will never,^ I am sure, i.o 
anything that you would have cause to think ot witli rcmoiM-; 
but you know, better than I could explain them to you, the 
preiudices of the old world, and of the socie y to which, aftr 
all, you will return. Have you ever given this your rc:il an.i 
serious consideration ? " r^ni-K- 
"Why, not yet, my dear Doctor, ' answered Lanzot iraukh, 



406 



LEAYE-TAKIKG. 



holding out his liand to the kind old Mentor; "but you may rest 
assured I will do so/' 

''That's right. But believe me when I assure you that you 
could not find a more unsuitable spot for such considerations 
than this place where you now are. Come back with me to San 
Erancisco. If ;your purse is not heavy enough for the journe}^ 
mine is heartily at your service, and I hope you will make no 
scruple in using it." 

At this morneut, the sound of music was heard from the 
neighbouring tent. Il was the sound of some stringed instru- 
ment, so lighly touched that it seemed as though the wind had 
swept across the chords of an ^Eolian harp. The Doctor felt 
how Emile's fingers tightened upon his hand, as he listened with 
bated breath. Anon the music sounded louder and more 
gloriously full, and then sank again like a whisper of love and 
regret. 

Neither of the men spoke a word ; even the old Doctor held 
his breath, till the music died avray as it had begun, in a plaintive 
murmur. 

" Who was that ? " asked Beckdorf, in amazement. *' I never 
heard any tiling like it in my life." 

''It is Manuela," answered Lanzot, almost in a whisper. 
"Doctor," he continued, turning with a half-smile to his old 
friend, " you see why I cannot leave this place." 

The docLor sighed, and answered, — 

" I see there is nothing more to be done in the way of counsel 
or exhortation. But how are you to go home with Don Alonzo 
as your companion? " 

"I give you my word," cried the young man, "that I will do 
nothing rashly or foolishly. I know you take a kind interest in 
my fortunes ; but you do not, perhaps, know that I am perfectly 
independent wdth regard to my relations, and have no need to 
account to any one for the steps I take. So give me time, dear 
Doctor, to make up my mind — give me time to become better 
acquainted with the girl. Don Alonzo, by the way, is of a good 
family, though in reduced circumstances — so even our old pre- 
judices need sustain no shock. But then, upon my word, 
I don't even know if the girl will have anything to say to me." 

"Come — I see I've been wasting my time," said the Doctor, 
good-humouredly. " My dear Baron, if you are already asking 
yourself such questions, you are w4iat the people here would call 
a ' gone' man ; and 1 can only resign myself to what cannot be 
altered, and wish you every blessing and happiness." 

" But, my good Doctor— — " 



LEAVE-TAKING. 



407 



" We'll Lave another talk on tins subject/' replied Easclicr. 

"Come, this is a pretty affair/' struck in Count Bcckdorf, 
laughing; "yesterday evening, he ^\-as almobt going to let me 
introduce him to the young lady." 

Yoices were heard without, and in the nclglibouring tent. 
Hetson had come back, and Dr. Eascher was preparing ibr 
departure. 

"We shall see each other again r" he said, cheerfully. "I 
shall say good-bye to you outside the tent, and I hope we shall 
soon meet in San Francisco." 

The Doctor waved his hand once more to the two young men, 
and then went briskly away in quest of his mule. 



"I have kept you waiting a long lime, Mr. Golway/' said 
Hetson, as he entered the tent ; "but the delay was caused by a 
circumstance which will dissipate the last traces of suspicion 
against you which one or other of our obstinate fellows might 
still have nourished." 

" I hear they have discovered the real murderer ?" 

"Yes, and in a condition," said Hetson, shuddering, " \Yhicli 
placed him beyond the reach of earthly punishment. God be 
merciful to him ; for before His judgment-seat the wretched man 
now stands. There is now not the slightest obstacle to your 
staying here. I will guarantee that- — " , -n • 

"My horse is saddled," interrupted Golway; "'and wiihm 
an hour I shall be far from here. Believe me, it is better tor 
both of us—and peace and contentment will return to us all . 

" God grant it !" said Hetson gently. " Is it true that Doctor 
Eascher accompanies you ?" 

"I am fortunate in securing his company. Jlc wishes to 
in a quieter neighbourhood than this, to ])ursue his studies and 
investigations. But if it is not inconvenient, I will go at once 
with you to say farewell to your wife." , . 

Hetson made no reply, but he took Goiway s arm, and tin} 
went together towards his tent. oi , i i i , i 

Jenny was sitting at the table alone. She looked pale aiul 
exhausted, as she rose and came towards them. 

"Jenny," said her husband with a quiet smile; ^^'^ 
man who has for months robbed me of sleep, and t ;o U-u^^^^^^^^ 
whom almost drove me mad, from the fV^^^'\^^^\^^^ 
one dav stand opposite to you, as he does now. llo^v 1 m ooK 

h^iJXepS^^ toH^riT;: 

A tardy acknowledgment, 1 know-but not too late, i 1io]h, 
any of us/' 



408 



LEAVE-TAKING. 



"Mr. Golway !" faltered Jenny, but Hetson continued : 

" He is come to say good-bye to you ; say a kind word to him 
for me, that he may not think hardly of us when he is gone ; for 
I shall be his debtor as long as I live and before either of 
them could reply, he turned and quitted the tent. 

Jenny looked anxiously after him ; but she could not trust 
herself to speak ; and for more than a minute the two stood 
looking at each other in silence. 

Golway was the iirst to recover himself, and to falter out 

"Mrs. Hetson — I am deeply grateful to your husband for 
allowing me this last meeting before I go back to my home — the 
ocean. Like him, I had looked forward with dread to the 
prospect of meeting him and you ; but I bless the chance — if, 
indeed, we can call anything that happens in this wonderful world 
a chance — which has turned my steps this way. I shall go 
better satisfied, — I shall go well satisfied ; for 1 see you under 
the protection of a brave, honest man, who knows how to value 
the treasure he has won. Our paths are now different; and 
Heaven knows if we shall ever meet again ; but you may rest 
assured that I shall bless the memory of this hour, and that I 
shall never forget you. Earewell V* 

He took her passive hand, and raised it to his lips. 

"Earewell, Charles," murmured Jenny ; " God bless you for 
all your love and truth — and be assured that I shall always think 
of you with affection. God guide you, and keep you, and give 
you peace. Time softens every grief; and it will not leave 
yours without balm ; and I know well, the reflection that I am 
happy with Hetson will be a comfort to your generous soul. 
Eirst, he won my respect ; afterwards, I came to appreciate his 
warm, honest heart ; and now that your appearance has chased 
away the one dark cloud which hung over our hearth, I look 
forward to a peaceful, happy future for us all. I have to thank 
you for this hope, as for many a happy hour in former days ; I 
shall never forget it, or forget you, and now, farewell ! " 

The horse which Cook had brought and saddled for the 
stranger, was pawing the sand outside the tent. Once more his 
lips touched her hand ; the next moment saw him in the saddle. 

Hetson was standing there, and held out his hand — a firm 
grasp, understood by each, was their parting; but neither of 
them spoke a word. 

Dr. Kascher was already in the saddle, taking leave of his 
friend, when Lanzot came out of a tent, with a spade and pick- 
axe on his shoulder, and accompanied by Don Alonzo and 
Eeckdorf. 



LEAVE-TAKING. 



•100 



The Doctor shook his head when he saw him ; but he could 
not help smiling. 

" So you're really going to remain here ? he observed. 

" Yes, as a worthy gold-digger/*' answered Lanzot, luughiuir ; 
and, laying his hand on the Spaniard's shoulder, he addal, 
" Don Alonzo and [ are going to try our luck together ; and 
when we've worked out our passage-money, we shall pack up and 
go to Germany, to the banks of the Ehine." 

"Passage-money, my dear Baron; you remember what I 
offered you yesterday — and I shall feel really grieved if " 

"I must earn it myself, my dear Doctor, or else I shall not 
care about it. Self-earned bread is sweetest : I've learned that 
lesson here in California; so let me have my own way. But 
where shall I find you when I get to San Erancisco r '' 

" In the United States Hotel ; and so, farewell — let me hear 
good news of you soon." 

They waved their hands to each other ; and the old horse, and 
the clever little mule, set off trotting merrily up the little street of 
tents towards the mountains. 

When Hetson returned to his tent, he found Jenny standing 
there alone. She turned aside, on seeing him enter, to hide the 
tell-tale drops that sparkled on her eyelids. Then her liusband 
went up, and stole his arm round her waist ; and as iicr head 
sank on his breast, he kissed her forehead, and resting his cheek 
on her curls, comforted her as one would comfort a child. 

'^Weep on, my poor Jenny," said he, "weep on, if it 
rcKeves your grief. I feel now, more than ever, how wrong and 
foolish I have been — how I have increased your burden, when 1 
ought to have helped you to bear it. That is past and gone ; 
from this time no s])adow shall come between us. Weep f(^r a 
while, dear girl, and grieve for the man to whom your heart lirst 
clung, — do not hide your heart's sorrow from me,— I will mourn 
for him with you, for he is a man worthy to be regretted. iUit i hcu 
you must afterwards let me see your briglit eyes lookinsj^ gaily 
and cheerfully at lite. I will endeavour to supply the i)iacc ol 
your first love,— and when I fail, dear Jenny, you must bear 
with me." . , ... 

"Erank— my own, dear Erank," sobbed his wite, while a 
smile broke through her tears like a sunbeam^; whatever 1 
have lost, your kind words make up for it richly." 

"And I will do another thing for you, my dear one. 1 sec 
how wrongly I have acted in bringing you to this savage nlace. 
But endure it only for a short time longer,-for a few weeks,— 
until I have done my duty to the people, who have shoNs-n con- 



410 



COXCLUSION. 



fidence in me bj choosing me for their alcalde. Then we will 
return to my beautiful country, on the banks of the Ohio — to the 
circle of my family, who will receive you with open arms— and 
you shall forget all grief and sorrow, and this last evil journey of 
ours shall be to both of us as the remembrance of a heavy 
dream/' 

" It has been a dream, Frank," answered his wife, in a low 
voice, a bad, bad dream, and Heaven be praised that you have 
awakened from it. I have no further fear; stay here and do 
your duty as long as you feel you have a duty to fulfil; then we 
will return to your home, my dear Trank. My parents have 
promised to follow us and settle there, — and, oh, Erank ! we 
shall be so happy ! " 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

COlfCLUSIOi^. 

EoTJU weeks had elapsed since the events last described, and 
the red and yellow leaves falling thickly in the forest gave 
warning of the coming autumn; the sky, too, had ceased to 
glow with the vivid blue of summer. Thick banks of cloud 
hung here and there over the horizon, and everything gave token 
that the season of rains would soon begin. 

In the little town, meanwhile, peace and tranquillity had been 
fully restored. Hetson, assisted by Hale, and the more respect- 
able portion of the American community, had succeeded, in spite 
of some opposition, in banishing all gambling-tables from the 
camp ; whereupon the gamblers, unwilling to lose their time in 
such an unprofitable place, took their departure without giving 
further trouble. 

The Indians, too, had ceased to annoy them. Scattered troops 
were, indeed, seen here and there, in the vicinity ; but they held 
no converse with the white men, and seemed only anxious to 
avoid them. The women came to collect hazlenuts, acoms, and 
other wild fruits of the forest, for their winter store ; and the 
men only formed little escorts for their defence ; for there was 
no hunting — the deer in the forest had been scared away long 
since. 



CO]N-CLUSIOX. 



411 



A few Mexicans liad also reappeared; but tliey went away 
again, wlien the monthly tax, now introduced as a regular thing, 
was demanded of thein. They had no idea of making any 
further resistance, but retired into the valleys seldom visited 
by Americans, to avoid the oppressive impost as long as 
possible. 

One change had taken place in Hetson's tent, — a ehaug( 
-which filled Manuela's gentle heart with grief. Her father, un 
used to the hard work to which he had devoted himself with 
iron industry and perseverance, fell sick of a fever, which, in the 
absence of proper medical aid, soon became dangerous. His 
daughter scarcely moved from his side, and tended him day and 
night with vigilant affection; but she could not restrain the 
ebbing stream of life ; and nine days after the commencement 
of the attack his friends dug a quiet grave for Don Alonzo 
under a shady tree at the foot of the hill. 

The old man had kept his word, and never touched another 
card ; yet shame and grief at the wrong he had done his daughter 
had done much to weaken his strength and break his heart But 
even in dying he had the consolation of seeing his child— his 
Manuela— protected and provided for by an honest, manly liand. 
Youno- Lanzot, who had employed his time most satisfactorily in 

making up his mind," begged Don Konez to give him the right 
of protecting his daughter/by consenting to their union ; nnd 
with a last effort of his failing strength, the old bpaniard laid 
their hands in each other and blessed them. , . 

Of course thev did not purpose remaining m Cahtornia ; and 
this and several other circumstances made the llet.soiis wisli to 
quit the "Paradise " as soon as possible. Domestic comfort ni 
such a place was of 'course out of the question Gold. Gold^ 
was the universal watchword; and the go-aliead sysk.n o 
America, pushed here to its utmost liimt^s, thrust cveiMhinj, 
Hke qui;t'^^^^ aside. Hetson and Lanzot there o,. de^ 

termined to leave the mines in the course ol a ^^l^^^f^ 
proceed to San Erancisco ; thence to take passage m tlic hrM 
ship, and bid farewell for ever to Calilornia. 

Hale was very dissatisfied with this^arrangemont; foi frmn 
respecting his alcalde, he had got to love Jj^V, ' o,. fo 
even he c?)uld not deny that the place was no a ^^^^ .^^^^^^^ 
women, though their persona ^^^f f .""^^^ f . f . ^^/ij 
So, with a heavy heart, he resigned himself, as he t.aKl, 

vigour, and tl.e day of departure fived for the ncxi 3 



412 



CONCLUSION. 



morning, the day on which an empty goods-waggon generally 
started on the return journey to San Erancisco. 

Among our German acquaintances the last four weeks had 
also produced some changes. The so-called " German Com- 
pany," consisting of Bindcrhof, Lamberg, and Hufner, had been 
completely dissolved. Hufner had at last got tired of working 
for his two lazy partners ; and when he left them, it occurred to 
Lamberg and Bindcrhof that they could not well get on in com- 
pany without a working partner. So, after they had both abused 
Hufner as an ungrateful man, and prophesied that he would 
come to a bad end in California, they parted likewise, to try their 
fortune separately. Of course they pronounced California the 
most miserable country on the face of the earth. 

The firm of " Counsellor and Co." had also dissolved partner- 
ship. The old Assessor, who could no longer endure the hard 
mining work, in addition to the weight of domestic cares (for 
the Counsellor touched nothing at home but his pipe and tobacco- 
pouch), was afraid of falling seriously ill, and consequently ob- 
tained a situation as salesman in one of the dealers' tents, throw- 
ing his own very small capital into the concern. The dealer, a 
German Jew, though he had a sharp eye for his own interest, 
fully appreciated the good qualities of his assistant ; so that, 
comparatively speaking, the Assessor was very comfortable in 
his new employment, which suited him much better than the 
laborious search for gold with his former partner. 

The Counsellor complained bitterly of the Assessor's defection, 
and seemed more than half inclined to resume his " mountain 
labours;" but, failing in an attempt to lure Mr. Hufner into 
partnership — for Hufner had acquired experience, and knew his 
man — and as, moreover, his stock of tobacco had become 
exhausted, and could not be renewed in the mountains, — as soon 
as he heard that the Hetsons, Beckdorf, and Lanzot intended 
returning to San Erancisco, he determined to join them, espe- 
cially as he was afraid to undertake the journey alone. Beck- 
dorf, to whom he told his intention, strengthened him in his 
purpose ; but though they could manage to find room for the 
Counsellor's chest in the waggon, there was not an inch left for 
the Counsellor himself; so he was at last forced to trust himself 
to the tender mercies of a mule he purchased of a dealer. Beck- 
dorf and Lanzot were likewise mounted ; and the three cham- 
pions declared they would do battle for the ladies against all 
comers. 

The cavalcade was to start at ten o'clock in the morning ; and . 
already, at daybreak, the Counsellor bad ordered in the Assessor 



CONCLUSION. 



413 



to help liim to pack— a request the gooduatured old Assessor 
could not find in his heart to refuse. 

The Counsellor's interpretatation of "helping" to pack was 
rather a wide one, inasmuch as it meant that the Assessor should 
pack while the Counsellor smoked his long pipe. He had 
already sold his tent and tools to Mr, liufner, who had also 

come in. , , n i ji 

The Assessor packed and packed till he could hardly see 
throuo'h his spectacles, while Hufnerwas busy gettmg breakfast, 
—cooking beefsteaks on the gridii'on, and preparing to make 
pancakes of what remained of the stock of flour and sugar ihe 
Counsellor had also given up his last bottle of brandy, to celebrate 
the occasion with as much festivity as possible. 

"I must confess, Counsellor,'^ said the Assessor, looking up 
at last from his work,. and wiping his spectacles, "^that this 
packino- makes me long to be olf to San Trancisco too. ^ 
« Be off, then," was the Counsellor's concise answer— ' dog s 
life here " 

" It cannot be denied," continued the Assessor, that the life 
we lead here leaves much to be desired, especially m the way ot 
houses. I've been used to walls, and all this open air and tent 
work hardly suits mv constitution. Still-I don t know-San 
Prancisco might " „ 

"Mrs. Siebert will be very glad to see you 

The Assessor made no reply ; but the Counsellor had l it 
upon his one great objection to return to the capital. Iho 
Assessor had, even in the last weeks mdu gcd ^^^^^ J 
visions of returning to Europe when he should J;)ve ^^^-^^ 
money ; but these hopes were always dimmed by the V ^^^'^^ o' 
having to slink through San Trancisco like a criminal, to a^oul 
ihp clutches of that dreadful w^oman. 

wtk i: still stood ruminating on the affair, * - romc 
of San Erancisco liad also called up heavy thoughts m the uunil 
of Mr. Hufner, who began, in a lo^y nervous voicr,- 

" r,oiins41or I had a horrible di-eam last niglit . 

" Mans-getting your throat cut ?" guessed the Couusello,. 

''"NolTorsethan that.^ I dreamt that Mrs. Sehneid,„i,lUn- 

had arrived here, and 



" SchneidmiiUer !_mother-m-law ^ dc-^nair." 



414 



CONCLUSION. 



Nothing ! " groaned Hufner, taking tlie coffee from the fire, 
and pouring in a little cold water to make the grounds sink — 
"at least nothing I could think of marrying upon. lam the 
most unhappy fellow in existence ; and yet Vm quite innocent. 
Why, good Heavens ! I work like a horse ; but how can I help 
it that I clonH find anything 

"Hallo! — some one coming,'^ cried the Counsellor, who 
noticed that a stranger was being directed to their tent by one 
of the townspeople, and was striding straight towards them across 
the bleak open fiat. 

The Assessor and Hufne?', on looking in the direction indi- 
cated, saw a traveller coniing slowly towards them leading a mule 
by the bridle. He stopped at the fire outside the tent, took off 
his hat politely, and asked, in German, — 

" Can you tell me if the Counsellor is at home ?'* Hufner had 
looked attentively at the stranger's face as he came along. He 
was sure he had seen him before, but could not at the moment 
tell where ; but the Counsellor answered at once, — 

" Yes — here — I'm he." 

" Yery glad of the honour of your acquaintance,'' answered 
the stranger ; " and, as I see, the coffee is just ready — that's well. 
Please, Mr. Hufner, tell the girl to bring another cup." 

"Mr. Ohlers, as sure as I'm alive!" exclaimed Hufner in 
astonishment, recognizing his former companion, "like the 
cuckoo, by the bad voice." 

" Ohlers — so it is," repeated the Counsellor. " Confounded 
great beard— didn't know you." 

"Mr. Ohlers, and no other," cried the xissessor, after staring 
for a time in astonishment at his old acquaintance. " Well, I'm 
heartily glad to see you again. You're just in time to join our 
last breakfast, for the Counsellor is going to quit the mines this 
very morning." 

"Ha, indeed," said Ohlers, as he sat down by the fire, after 
shaking hands all round. " I suppose the Counsellor has just 
washed out his heap of gold, and is going back to Germany, to 
be made minister for foreign affairs at one of our courts, eh? 
In that case, I beg to introduce myself to his gracious con- 
sideration as head poisoner of one of the medical faculties; and 
have no objection, in consideration of a salary, to become an 
honorary member of any number of learned societies." 

" Heap of gold !" growled the Counsellor, puffing out great 
clouds of smoke ; " dog's life — nothing to be found — any- 
where." 

" Nothing to be found ? Well, perhaps, the Counsellor hasn't 



CONCLUSION. 41S 



looked properly for it ; but so far as I have heard, the impression 
prevails generally that there is gold in California/' 

" Go, dig — try yourself," grumbled the man of the law between 
two great whiffs. 

" Thank you," answered Ohlers ; " I did not come to California 
to distiu'b our mother earth, but to seek for rich people, who 
would pay me good money for bad medicines. But I don't 
think the prospect particularly good, for everybody seems in the 
enjoyment of provokingly good health. A little yellow fever, 
small-pox, or cholera, would be quite a godsend." 

" Yes ; that would be a fine affair," said the Assessor mdi^- 
nantly, "to be ill here, in California. The very tiiought is 
horrible. What should one do ?" 

"My dear Mr. Assessor," interrupted Ohlers, atn com- 
missioned with a thousand kind messages for you, from Mrs. 
Siebert." 

" Thank you ; I— I— hope she and her cnildren are well, 
stammered the Assessor. I'm glad to— to hear from her." 

" She's well— very well— earns a good livmg by washing and 
ironing, and don't seem to regret her poor husband very much. 
But she particularly charged me to let her have your address, it 
I should chance to meet you anywhere in the mines. I had no 
idea that I should find you here ; and, in fact, only came out of 
my way to find Mr. Hufner, and be the bearer of some important 

family news." . -, . i i • i 

"Por me ?" asked Hufner in a startled voice, and turning pale 
as death. The Assessor, too, had been taken quite aback by the 
words of the malicious little apothecary-ior if Mrs. bicbcrt 
were to learn by any chance that he was here, and intended to 
stay, for a time\at any rate, why that woman was capable ot any- 
thing,— and Hufner thought just the same thmg of his mother-m- 

Ohlers, who knew his men well, Imd killed two birds with one 

stone; and though s^^f^^•ef/Sr'^^^^^^^ 

lie sat quite unmoved, and held out a tm mug lor the Assessor 

to fill. 



"My ^ood Mr. Ohlers," said the Assessor i^, 
voicfLlie compUed with his request " I-I fl^^^^^, 
remark that I have made up my mind tojo^^^^ I'o. 
diately, and that it is qmte "^am whicl yy ^^^^^ 
You must know yourself what uncertain k nd ot l^^^ 
looking outfor any one in the mountains. E^cnlettors 

here, as often as not." . „ ^ Ohlers, 

"But surely you'll be here for some time jet, ui^ca u 



416 



CONCLUSION. 



iu a sympathizing tone, " and Mrs. Siebert, I am sure, would be 
so tniij rejoiced." 

" I may very probably leave in the beginning of next week," 
interrupted the Assessor, in a great hurry ; " but I shall write to 
Mrs. Siebert myself, and tell her where I can be heard of. So 
pray do not give yourself any trouble on my account." 

" No trouble at all, my dear Assessor," persisted Ohlers ; 
" but do as you say ; the poor woman will be very glad, I'm 
sure, for the children have been a dreadful trouble to her lately." 

" You said you had some news for me, my dear Mr. Ohlers," 
observed Hufner, who had sat as if on coals for the last few 
minutes. " You spoke of family affairs, if I am not mistaken." 

" I ? — Oh, yes. I suppose you don't know yet," said Ohlers, in 
a cheery tone, " that the young lady to whom you are betrothed 
has landed safely in San Francisco, and could hardly await the 
time when she should be welcomed by her ardent lover ? " 

Yes— yes — Mr. Ohlers, I heard of the dreadful — I mean 
the happy circumstance — but I was not able to " 

" Ah ! you don't know how she missed you," continued the 
apothecary ; and she is such a dear, good girl, too — so gentle 
and complying; and her mother — my word, that's a famous 
woman for you — such a resolute character ! " ♦ 

" A motner-in-law — and a resolute character ! " muttered the 
Counseller. Ah ! that must be fine ! " 

" Yes, Counsellor, you wouldn't believe what a fine woman she 
is — a jewel of a mother-in-law, whom I would marry myself if 
she'd have me, and if I could make up my mind to change from 
a bachelor apothecary to a married man." 

" Girl pretty ? " asked the Counsellor. 

" Who ? Miss Schneidmiiller ? Splendid, I assure you, — so 
gentle, so delicate and yielding ! I tell you, she made quite a 
sensation in San Erancisco — only she's almost too delicate to 
work." 

Yes, that she is," sighed poor Mr. Hufner from the bottom 
of his heart, for the words seemed to pierce him like a two-edged 
sword. Ear, far too delicate. But how can I, wretched being that 
I am, help it, that I have no luck and that she followed me to 
California so terribly soon. I will work, and have worked, like 
a horse ; I consider it my duty — but, for pity's sake, what is to 
become of her ? " 

"Of your mother-in-law ? " asked Ohlers. 
. " No, no — of Leonora." 

" She'd have to take what she could get to do, if the 
worst came to the worst," answered Ohlers, shrugging his 



CONCLUSIOX. 417 

shoulders "But it's not a very good place for a youn- r.i,i 
this Califoniiim, as Ballenstedt used to call it. By the wav 
does any one know what has become of Ballenstedt- Ko'^ 
Well, he was a funny fish. But, as I was sa\-ing, this is a bad 
country for a young girl ; but a married woman has notbinfr to 
fear : that's what her mother said, and I think she is quite 
right. ' 

"But it is as much as ever I can do to earn ray bread here,'' 
groaned Hufner, piteously. 

" That I grant you," said Ohlers, holding out his tin mug to 
get it refilled; "and that may probably have been one of^hc 
reasons why she has married some one else.*' 

The Assessor stopped filling the tin mug, the Counsellor 
stopped pulling at his pipe, and Mr. Hufner jumped up from 
his chair as if he had been sitting on hot lead. 

"Married some one else!'' he shouted, fearing to trust his 
own ears. 

"Yes," answered Ohlers, as coolly as if he were telling the 
most indifferent news. "Another cup, if you please, Assessor; 
your coffee is capital. Yes, a young good-looking fellow of an 
American, who fell over head and ears in love with her ; and, 
strangely enough, it was without seeing the mother-in-law at all; 
for she was ill in bed." 

"But that is quite impossible, Mr. Ohlers," shouted the 
Assessor ; the young lady, so far as I know, has only boon 
:five weeks in California at "the longest, and expected her lover 
from the mines." 

" Your calculation is admirably correct. Assessor," answered 
Ohlers ; " but, from inquiries she made, she found that her 
lover — may I trouble you to hand me the sugar? — that her 
betrothed could be with her in San Fransisco in six days at tlu' 
latest. But she had the unexampled patience to wait a full 
fortnight. After this long period had elapsed, she did not think 
herself bound by any previous promise ; and as the young 
American had really been very kind to her, and she thought 
it right to make him some return, she presented him her 
hand." 

Hufner sank back on his chair, folded his hands on his knees, 
and sat for a long time gazing at the fire, without a word of 
reply. 

"My dear Mr. Hufner," said the goodnatured Assessor, ever 
ready to sympathize with distress, "I feel that this is a heavy 
blow for you to bear; but you know, what's once done can't be 

2 E 



418 



COXCLTJSIOX. 



undone ; and perhaps, after all, it is a fortunate thing for the poor 
girl, — and for you too." 

Not a word' did Hufner say in reply ; but he rose slowly, 
and went away into the tent, letting the curtain fall behind 
him. 

"You're sure," said Ohlers, mysteriously, "that there are no 
daggers or pistols within his reach." 

"Heaven defend us!" exclaimed the Assessor, in a great 
fright. " Unhappy young man ! " 

" Hush ! " said Ohlers, motioning them to be silent ; and he 
crept on tip-toe towards the tent, lo see what the " unhappj 
man " was about— and richly was he rewarded for his trouble. 

Mr. Hufner, it must be told to his shame, was not seeking 
for dagger, pistol, or any deadly weapon whatever ; noiselessly, 
but with a face beaming with joy, he was dancing— dsiucmg on one 
leg, rubbing his hands, snapping his fingers, and manifestiog 
his joy in a hundred ways, as secretly as he could under the 
circumstances. 

Ohlers, who saw that Mr. Hufner would certainly not com- 
mit suicide, might have retired unobserved. But this he did 
not care to do ; on the contrary, he put the curtain a little aside^ 
thrust in his head, and said, 

"My dear i\Ir. Hufner, you must not take the matter sa 
much to heart. You see, there's no help for it, and. after 
2^11 " 

" Silence, for pity's sake," cried the deceitful Hufner, who 
stood at once stiff and rigid, and with a mournful countenance, 
" my dear Mr. Ohlers ; I beg you won't say anything of this. 
You see -—but please to come in-— you see — you can hardly 
wonder that I " 

''Am very glad," suggested Ohlers. 

" That Leonora," continued the forsaken one. 

" Is off your hands," said Ohlers. 

"Is provided for,'' concluded the deceiver. "I have na 

prospect here of establishing a home for her, and " 

" The mother-in-law-^ " 

" Well, yes," said Hufner with a sigh ; " and until now I 
have reproached myself bitterly for having lured the poor girl 
into this unhappy country. I thought, you see, she was so attached 
to me that she would pine away dreadfully if she had to live 
ivithout me ; but I see I have been mistaken. Oh, women ! 
iromen ! " ^ ^ -u 

" Come, do me the favour, my dear Mr. Hufner, and don t be 



CONCLUSION. 41T) 

sentimental. That would be against all reason,— and, besides, 
the coffee 's growing cold." 

" But you won't tell them that— — *' 

" Not a syllable, on my honour ; and without givin<:- him 
time to say more, Ohlers locked his arai in that of the discon- 
solate lover, and led him back to the fire. 

"There, gentlemen/' he said, on rejoining the others, "he is 
quite calm now ; you see, the first shock of grief is past. Give 
him a cup of coffee, Assessor, to wash down the last dregs of 
his despair." 

The Counsellor, who had meantime been actively engaged in 
devouring his breakfast, was just about to make*^sonie "reply, 
when a horseman came galloping up the incline, and Count 
Eeckdorf appeared before them. 

"Hallo, Counsellor !*' he cried, "make haste to your saddle; 
the cavalcade will come by here directly, and your baggage must 
be taken down to the road yonder," 

"Confound it!" exclaimed the Counsellor, jumping up and 
grasping his pipe, — " already ? I never thought of it." 

"Where's your mule?" asked Eeckdorf, laughing at the 
Counsellor's bewilderment. 

"Mule — don't know; somevrhere in the bush." 

" Now here's a fine affair ; you'll be left behind, to a ceriainty, 
or the ladies will be kept waiting an hour ; and one thiug 's as 
bad as the other. In what direction is it, about ? " 

The Counsellor waved his pipe in a bow, comprising about 
one fourth of the horizon, and iieckdorf burbi into a shuul of 
laughter. 

"Is it a mule with half its left car cut off:" asked 
Ohlers. 

"Yes, that's it !" cried the Counsellor eagerly. 

" Then I saw it as I came up, about five hundred paces from 
here, leaning against an oak, fast asleep; I thought at hrst it 
was a stuffed mule that had been left there and had hall talicu 
I down." 

I Beckdorf shook his head, and cried: ^'Hicn make haste. 
! Counsellor ; collect your property, and get it taken do^vn to the 
! roadside ; perhaps these gentlemen will help you. 1 will go in 
i the mean time and bring you your mule." saying, he turuca 
i his horse, and galloped down the incline. 

The conversation was, of course, entirely intcrniptcU. me 
Counsellor pottered about, looking for all sorts ot things, not ouc 
of which he was able to find. His tobacco-pouch, his tnulcr-boi, 
2 E 2 



420 



COXCLUSIOX. 



his hat, his cravat, his pocket-book, — in fact, everything belong- 
ing to him, that T\-as not a fixtnre, seemed to have been mislaid ; 
and while the Assessor and Hulner helped him to look, almost 
reduced to despair at his untidiness, Ohlers sat quietly by the 
fire, and linislied up the pancakes. 

At last everything was found, and packed in the saddle-bags ; 
and Hufner and the Assessor, both evidently glad to be rid, at 
last, of their troublesome friend, went panting down to the road 
with his great chest between them, to leave it there till the 
waggon should come by. 

When Beckdorf came back with the mule he had succeeded in 
finding, the Counsellor really put the pipe out of his mouth for a 
moment, to fasten the saddle on his beast ; but, of course, he 
could not manage it. He tried it in every possible way, but it 
would not fit ; and at last Count Beckdorf was obliged to do it 
for him. Ohlers, who could have settled it for him easily, never 
olfered to help, but sat by the fire, and enjoyed the fun mightily. 

The Assessor and Hufner had, meantime, come back to the 
fire ; and the former felt very much in the melting mood, on 
taking leave of a man with whom he had lived in friendship for a 
time. The Counsellor was going back to Germany, and it was 
hardly probable they would ever meet again in this world. 

The Counsellor, meanwhile, puffed steadily on ; and his feel- 
ings, if he had any, were hidden in a dense veil of tobacco- 
smoke. 

Kovf the vehicle came rolling up ; a light van on four wheels, 
drawn by a pair of strong horses, and arranged as comfortably as 
possible for the ladies, by means of mattresses and feather beds, 
with the luggage piled up at the back. Hetson himself had 
taken a seat in the carriage, or rather in the waggon, as he did 
not wish to purchase a horse for the short journey ; andLanzot 
Tode on one side, of course the side where Manuela sat. 

Poor girl, she had found it hard to part from her father's 
grave ; that morning she had visited it again, with her lover by 
her side, and had wept bitterly over the little wooden cross — she 
knew she should never see it again. But now she was calmer. 
The cheerful, bracing autumn morning soothed her excited feel- 
ings — and then there was a secret pleasure in the thought that 
she was going at last to leave this land, always fraught with mis- 
fortune for her, and to begin a new and a happier life by the side 
of the man who had won her heart. 

It was a matter of some difficulty to get the Counsellor into the 
saddle ; and, when mounted at last, he could not for a long time 



CONCLUSION. 



421 



find the rigM stirrup. At length even this was accomplished, and 
there was nothing left to do but to lift the he^Yj chest into the 
waggon— a piece of work which of course fell upon Hufner and 
the Assessor. 

Now all was ready. The horses started, and the carriage rolled 
along the road. 

"Now;, mj dear Counsellor," the Assessor began, shaking 
hands, with his affectionate heart full at the prospect of parting ; 
but ^ whether the Counsellor was fearful of damping his own 
spirits, or really felt indifferent about saying farewell, certain it 
is that he kicked his mule in the sides, gruffly gave them "Good 
morning," and grasping the saddle with his right hand, while he 
held his eternal pipe, instead of a riding- whip, in his left, rode oS 
without another word. His two friends, rather abashed at his 
abrupt departure, stood for some time in the road, looking after 
him with eyes of astonishment. 

Thus the Counsellor departed out of the mines, and from 
among his friends, who had served him, week after week, with 
patient and ready kindness, and without the slightest feeling of 
self-interest or hope of reward. And why? Because he was a 
I Counsellor, He had a somewhat high-sounding title, and tliey, 
honest Germans that they were, could not sufficiently shake off the 
old German husk of flunkejism to divest themselves of the awe 
it inspired ! 

Once in the saddle, the Counsellor began, as he tottered in his 
seat, to waver in that opinion concerning his intrinsic and inward 
worth which had hitherto sustained him. It was already a 
hardship to him that he was obliged to hold the bridle, so 
little was he accustomed to do anything for himself; and then 
his mule did not proceed with an even pace, but accommo- 
dated itself to the horses, according as they went faster or 
slower. 

Here nobody cared for him or his dignity, — lie had to hold 
tight, and get on as best he could, — and what a hard trotter the 
i brute of a mule was ! The Counsellor vented secret curses on tlic 
Assessor, who had advised him to purchase the mule ; and yet 
the poor Assessor had acted in perfect good faith. He felt per- 
suaded that a man like the Counsellor knew everything, and, 
consequently, that he must be able to ride. 

The weather was glorious. The freshness of a briglit autumn 
morning lay spread over the green v.'ood ; and witli the murnmr- 
ing mountain-stream at their feet, from whence the clattering of 
a dozen water-wheels sounded upwards — with the mighty trees 



422 



CONCLUSION. 



rustling over tlicir heads, the travellers went gaily on their 
round. 

They had proceeded a few miles, when they overtook a solitary 
wanderer, who had come down from a little footpath in the hills, 
and now seemed making for the same point as themselves. There 
was no lack of single travellers on the road, some going heavily 
laden towards the mines, others returning from thence ; so that 
the wanderer did not attract the notice of the party in the 
carriage. But Eeckdorf thought he knew the lounging step, 
and the general appearance of the untidy figure seemed familiar 
to him. The man had, by the way, no kind of baggage — not 
even a blanket, but slouched along with his hands in his pockets, 
looking very well pleased with himself. 

In a little time they had overtaken him, and Beckdorf, reining 
in his horse, cried, laughing, — 

''Why, Mr. Erbe, where the deuce have you been hiding all 
this time ? 

The Counsellor's mule seemed to think the meeting consti- 
tuted a sufficient excuse for a little rest, and stopped so sud- 
denly as almost to shoot the Counsellor over his head. 

"Ah, count'/' said the dirty passenger, without taking his 
hands out of his pockets, but with a polite nod of his red head ; 
" How d'ye do ? — I've been in the hills up yonder — digging and 
washing." 

" Had any luck ? " 

"Bah I " and Mr. Erbe's shoulders went up towards his ears 
in a contemptuous shrug — " devil take what the people call luck 
up in the mines. I caught a bad cold, and was very ill ; and 
afterwards it was just as if every one found something but me. 
Now I've made up my mind, and am going back to San Eran- 
cisco." 

" Per what purpose, if I may inquire, ]\Ir. Erbe ? " asked 
Eeckdorf, amused at the man's coolness. 

"Don't quite know — most likely to set up a barber's shop, 
and shave the people." 

" Ah ! youi- old trade ?" 

"Yes." 

" Well, then, I wish you luck," said Beckdorf, gatheriug up 
the reins in his hand. " Don't be too long on the road." 

" Oh, I've plenty of time," answered Mr. Erbe ; " one ought 
never to do a thing in a hurry. Where are you off to ?'^ 

" To San Erancisco, like yourself." 

"Ah!'"* said Erbe, musing, "then perhaps we might — "he 



CONCLUSION. 



423 



'Nvas going to add — "set up a barber's sbop togetber; "' for be 
tbongbt tbe German must bave money. But, on second reflec- 
tion, be considered tbat Beckdorf kne\v notbing of the sbaving 
mystery; so tbat be, Erbe, \yould bave to be tbe working 
partner — a tbing be abominated ^ — so be did not fniisb bis 
remark. 

"But wbat bave you done witb your effects, Mr. Erbe 
"Hm!— tbe baggage? ' drawled Erbe, looking over bis 
sboulder as if to assure bimself that notbing was there ; "why, 
fact is, I've sold out— tbere's more to be bad in San 
Eraneisco." 

" Certainly," laughed Beckdorf ; " and you'll travel all the 
lighter. So good morning to you, Mr. Erbe." 

" Morning," answered tbe barber, w4tb a nod ; and Beckdorf 
galloped along tbe road, to overtake tbe waggon, followed 
by tbe Counsellor's mule at tbe top of its speed — to tbe 
sreat discomfiture of tbe rider, and tbe amusement ol 

Sir. Erbe. ^ • i ^ . 

At noon, tbey made a sbort bait, tbat tbe borses might rest 
and bait; for tbis jmrpose tbey stopped on tbe bank of the 
little river Calaveres, on wbose shady margin tbere was excellent 

grass. 1 X 1 i. 1 

Tbe passengers dined bere, gipsy fasbion, and at about two 
o'clock set fortb again on their journey. Tbey wished to get to 
Stockton tbat nigbt, however late it might be, lu order to catch 
tbe steamer tbat was to start for San Erancisco next morning. 

Tbey bad not proceeded far, before their attention was drawn 
to a dispute, in tbe road before tbem, between tbe nder of a 
mule and a foot-passenger. A bend in tbe road brought them 
close up to tbe combatants, before tbey were observed, it 
seemed tbat tbe foot-passenger was the aggressor, for lie was 
tugging witb migbt and main to pull the other to the groiiua. 

Beckdorf and Lanzot, who were riding side bv side, thought 
tbey bad come jast in time to prevent a bigiuvay ro bberv 
Grasping their pistols, tbey put spurs to tbeir horses, and rod . 
down at\ gallop to tbe scene of action, followed, sor^^^^^^ a.^uiist 
bis will by tbe unbappy Counsellor. In spite o thcii airival, 
tbe a^^^^^^^^^^^ seemed to have no notion of desisting Irom his 
iSaclS'bVbad bold of the rider by one 1.., an ^voul no 
let go; and as tbe mule made a start j^f^^^J ^^^^^^^^^ 
cam! down to the ground witb a thump. . Ihc ^ I f .^^^ 
tbat accompanied bis l^eavy fall convmce^d tbe two bor^ 
tbat tbis was not a case of robbery, so much as an ordinary 



424 



CONCLUSION. 



quarrel ; and now Beckdorf, to his infinite surprise, recognized in 
the man who had pulled the other off his mule, one of the mildest 
and most polite men i e had ever met in his life — to wit, the 
tenor singer Bublioni. 

" What in the world are you about here, my good sir," he 
cried out, laughing ; " and what harm has that gentleman, who 
is rubbing himself, done you ? " 

" That gentleman! " repeated the indignant Bublioni, who had 
seized the mule by the bridle, and jumped into the saddle; 
" that is the most impudent cheat under the sun — he calls him- 
self the Actuary Korbel ; he's plundered me of everything I 
could call my own, and now wanted to ride past me, as proud as 
may be, while I trudged along on foot." 

" You give me up my mule, Mr. Bublioni," blustered the 
actuary. "Gentlemen, you won't allow my property to be 
stolen from me on the high-road ? " 

" Stolen, you rascal !" screamed the singer ; " everything I 
possessed — eleven ounces of gold — has this cheat taken from me 
under the pretence of buying provisions." 

" Well !" said Korbel with a lurking grin — " wasn't I on my 
way to " 

Then give me back my money, and you shall have your mule 
at once." 

The money is in San Francisco already," said the actuary. 
" Yes, that I can believe," cried Bublioni ; " but in whose 
bag? And I, meanwhile, have quite ruined ray voice. A 
nice profit I've got out of my gold-digging, — a catarrh and 
debts !" 

" Where are you going now ?" asked Beckdorf. 
" To San Erancisco. I hear a theatre has been established, 
there, and am going to try for an engagement." 

" But not on my mule," cried Korbel, and rushed upon him 
to try and recapture his property. But Bublioni, who was a 
good rider, made the mule swerve'to one side of the road, and 
then dashed on at full speed. 

" Should we allow that ?" said Lanzot, who had looked with 
some surprise at this proceeding, to Beckdorf. 

Certainly,'^ answered Beckdorf with a laugh, "for it serves 



from whom he could manage to borrow; and he has been 
gambling and drinking, while that other poor fellow had to work. 
But come, here's the waggon, — and we won't waste any more 
time with the scamp/' 




He owes money to every one of us 



COXCLUSIOX. 



425 



They rode on after the vehicle ; but the Counsellor, reiniu? in 
his mule by a great exertion of strength, cried out : 
" Hollo, Actuary, — glad to meet you ; we're going to leave the 
mines : my half -ounce ! 

The Actuary looked at hira over his shoulder, with supreme 
contempt, and answered with the one verv unpolite word — 

"Blockhead!" 

"Confound it!" roared the Counsellor; but his mule put an 
end to the colloquy so satisfactorily begun. The horses were iu 
advance, and it followed them in spite of all tugging at tlie bridle, 
while the Comet, thrown out of its orbit, stood gloomily in the 
road. 

The Counsellor would have been in a great rage, if his beast 
had only given him tiine ; but the road, from this point, Avent 
downhill for a long distance, and the light w^aggon went so fast 
that the horses had to follow at a sharp trot. So there was 
nothing for it but to leave the " half-ounce " in the lurch, and 
put up with the opprobrious epithet " blockhead." 

The scene by the roadside became more and more animated. 
Here and there the Americans had already begun to build their 
little improvements — block-houses, with a little bit of inclosed 
field before each. At sunset the travellers encountered several 
caravans of mules resting by the wayside, and at last the white 
tents of Stockton came in view. 

In Stockton they had to stay for the night ; but at daybreak 
the next morning a steamer started for San Francisco, and 
landed them in the capital after a passage of less than twelve 
hours. 

In SanErancisco they were welcomed by Doctor Raschcr, who 
had been informed of their arrival, and had, indeed, ahcady 
secured berths for them in a steamer about to start for ranama. 
This steamer, however, was not to weigh anchor for three days, and 
Lanzot made use of the interval to celebrate his marriage with 
Manuela. Doctor Eascher still shook his head gravely, but he was 
noticed to be particularly active in^ making every necessary 
preparation, and seemed to sympathize most heartily in the 
happiness of the young people. 

They were married at three in the afternoon of the last day, 
and at six they were to be on board the steamer Mohican, whose 
black funnel was belching out smoke over the bay. 

The Counsellor had intended to embark with them; but he 
•was not ready, the Assessor not being at hand to pack for him. 
Count Beckdorf also remained behind, to try his luck once more 



426 



CONCLrSION. 



in the mines, as lie said, laughing. But he insisted on seeing his 
friends safely on board. The Counsellor went too, as he had 
nothing on earth to do to pass away the time. 

Through all the bustle and turmoil of the newly-created city, 
—through the hurrying after gold, — through a crowd of incor- 
porated speculations and perambulating price-currents, the happy 
group, who had found the purest of all gold, peace of mind, 
threaded their way towards the landing-place, from whence a 
little boat was to carry them to the steamer. 

Their way lay along the wharf or pier, built out into the bay, 
that the ships might unload there at flood-tide ; and here the 
Counsellor, stalkiug along with his nose in the air, as usual, 
came with a thump against a gigantic personage, hung all over 
in a most wonderful manner with fire-tongs, shovels, tripods, 
weapons, and tools, — a living and perambulating ironmonger's 
and cutler's shop, — who stood in the middle of the path, offering 
his wares to the passers-by. 

" Confound it ! " exclaimed the Counsellor ; and then staring 
up into the round, goodnatured face of the giant, which, once 
seen, could never be forgotten, he muttered, — 
Hm ! — an old acquaintance." 

It was the very man before whom he had been carried as a 
prisoner on the first night of his sojourn at the mines. But the 
giant had quite forgotten so small a personage as the Counsellor. 

" Any kind of iron article to-day, my good sir ? " he asked 
politely. " A revolver, hunting-knife, bayonet, fire-shovel, tongs, 
knives, forks, spoons, or letter-weights ? '' 

" Hm ! — queer-looking chap muttered the Counsellor, as he 
passed slowly by the giant towards the end of the wharf. 

He arrived there just in time to see the boats pushing off, full 
of passengers, and hurrying towards the steamer, whose bell had 
already begun to ring. 

The Hetsons and Lanzots saw him, and waved a farewell, 
which he was too cross to return. 

" Go to the deuce ! he muttered crustily ; and turning away, 
stumped back into the town- 
Doctor Rascher and Count Beckdorf were in the boat with 
their friends, with whom they parted regretfully, with many 
hearty farewells, and promises of future meetings. The ladies 
were assisted up the broad companion-ladder, — the boxes were 
hoisted on deck by twenty busy hands, — the wheels began to 
turn, — the boats darted out of the path of the snorting sea- 
monster, and the anchor was weighed amid the cheery sing- 



CONCLUSION. 427 

ing of the sailors. A few minutes later the clear water of the 
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gaily in the breeze, two white handkerchiefs were seen waving a 
last adieu. 

" Earewell ! God bless you ! " cried good old Dr. Raschcr, 
with two bright tears in his honest eyes ; and across the bay, 
towards the Golden Gate, sped the gallant ship, eager to breast 
ihe ocean waves, and bound for home ! 



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